Sensei Zabuza
by Shaithan
Summary: The battle on the bridge had a different outcome after a slight change. Gateau was early. Now Naruto and Sakura have to deal with the loss of a teammate, the heavy injury of another and getting a new teammate and Sensei. Chapter 1 edited
1. Chapter 1

Sensei Zabuza?

Disclaimer: If I owned Naruto, Gaara would have killed Rock Lee in the prelims and Sasuke in the main fights. And Sakura in the forest. As this didn't happen it becomes clear, that I don't own Naruto. This disclaimer is valid for all following chapters.

Authors notes: Another what if idea of mine. It centers around the question what would happen, if Gateaus betrayal of Zabuza was discovered earlier. Be warned, this story contains character death. Some of you may even hate me for what I do, but I don't care. Have fun with the story.

This is a revised version of the chapter, extended to contain more information. If you find discrepancies to things you know or know different, I have to say that I have the German version of the Manga. And well, German translators tend to ignore Slang or change names.

But before I start, I have a little complaining to do. I have read in several stories, how people hate Kakashi for teaching Sasuke an assassination technique, namely Chidori. But the same people respect Maito Gai for teaching Rock Lee Omote Renge and Ura Renge. Both techniques, Omote and Ura Renge, are forbidden, because they can very well kill the user. I admit that Sasuke is an power-hungry, inconsiderate asshole and that he used the Chidori to try to kill Naruto in the Valley of the End. But if Gaara hadn't had his Armor and Shield of Sand, Rock Lee could have killed him with the use of the Lotus. So, yes, I don't belong to the persons, hating Kakashi for teaching Sasuke Chidori. He even told him not to use the technique against fellow Konoha Ninjas. And I don't remember anyone hating Jiraiya for teaching Naruto the Rasengan. A technique that is even more dangerous than Chidori. You have seen the effects a Rasengan had on the Water tower on top of the Konoha Hospital. And you have seen what Jiraiyas Rasengan did to a tree. Steel and wood can take quite some damage in comparison to a human body. So don't tell me the Rasengan would be less dangerous than the Chidori. By the way I would prefer to have my heart pierced to having my guts torn apart. Wouldn't you agree? Torn apart guts are longer painful than a pierced heart.

I add even another thing. I recently read how many persons hate Sasuke since he became quite strong in the Manga. What's wrong with you people? Don't you know one of the simplest rules for a great Hero? He must face an opponent who is stronger than him. I mean how does a hero look who just beats up thugs but is able to jump over a building or lift a tank without a problem. Anyone would say, "Well done, when will you do something difficult?" A Hero with weak adversaries looks weak himself. But if the enemies are strong, the Hero proves his worth as a hero. And it is boring to read about a hero without any challenge. Such a hero is more or less useless. And I admit that Naruto would become boring if Naruto suddenly would beat any enemy. But you don't have to see it this way.

I recommend listening to the Song "The End" by The Doors, while reading the Land of Wave part of the chapter.

Anyway, let's begin with chapter one.

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Chapter 1: A different outcome

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The Battle on the bridge was almost over. The fog, made by Zabuza dispersed. Kakashi was beginning to form his original technique. And Naruto was ready to kill Haku.

Suddenly they heard clapping sounds. "Well, well, well. Seems that the "Demon of the Bloody Mist" got defeated after all. Proceed, Konoha Nin, kill him and his damned apprentice. I think we have to talk about business later." Gateau said, grinning like the fatass criminal he is.

"No one betrays Zabuza Momochi and lives to tell the tale!" the immobile man shouted.

"But you will die, fool. One way or another." Gateau said gloating.

"You never intended to pay us." Zabuza said tonelessly.

"Of course. Why should I waste so much money on paying someone like you?" Gateau asked. "Now hurry, Konoha Nin, kill this fool." Gateau ordered, returning to his waiting army of thugs. He wanted to see the Demon dead. Then he could pay the Konoha Nins, so that they allowed his thugs to kill the Bridge builder.

Kakashi let the Raikiri vanish. "No. Zabuza, I think our fight is over. We will kill this bastard together." Kakashi proposed.

"Damn right." the Demon of the Bloody Mist growled. The hunter dogs vanished. Zabuza went to retrieve his Sword.

"2000 Ryo for the head of Zabuza, 2000 for the Konoha Jonin, 500 for the brats, 1000 for the blasted apprentice and 1000 for the damned bridge builder!" Gateau yelled. His men were motivated to the toes. Whoever would bring him a head would have his contract negotiated again. Not that they knew this.

The second battle was on. Naruto and Haku went to the sides of the two Jonin. "They will die. No one of this thugs will leave alive! Gateau is mine!" Zabuza growled. The others nodded.

"Kill them all!" Gateau yelled. Safety in numbers should work.

The thugs came running at the group. Haku threw Senbon needles, Kakashi and Naruto were fighting with Kunai in hand and Zabuza was swinging his giant sword, killing thugs with every swing.

One of the more intelligent thugs had not joined the others in their assault on the big group. He wanted to kill the pink-haired girl, the bridge builder and he wanted to retrieve the head of the already downed boy. He would not pass up an opportunity on easy money. He got near the trio of victims.

"Sasuke, you live!" was heard in a happy tone.

"Stop it, Sakura. The needles hurt." came the weak reply.

The thug came to the group. "Die." was all he said, as he used his sword to strike after the girl. But he was quite surprised to see that the boy had managed to intercept his slash. Well, he would die first, the thug didn't care.

Sakura couldn't believe it. Sasuke had intercepted the blow aimed to end her life. And she was by no means a fool. She knew that Sasuke wouldn't survive. "Sasuke-kun!" she yelled at the top of her lungs.

Then she took out a Kunai and attacked the surprised bandit. The man was too surprised to block her strike. Sakura plunged the Kunai into his abdomen and brutally ripped it open . The man looked at his abdomen unbelievingly and at the intestines coming from it. He striked after Sakura but she dodged the killing blow. However, she didn't come out unharmed. One of her eyes, her left one, was destroyed in the process of dodging.

Kakashi and Naruto stopped, as they heard the loud and pained yell from Sakura. And it costed both of them. Kakashis lung was pierced 3 times. Naruto lost his right eye, courtesy of the sword of Zori. Kakashi coughed up blood. He knew, he wouldn't make it any farther without any immediate help. He had maybe 60 minutes before he would die.

Naruto on the other hand was screaming in pain. His lost eye hurt more than anything he had ever felt. He trashed around wildly, blood covering his face. And Zori had the bad luck of being in the way, as Naruto was loosing control. The Kunai slit open his windpipe and he fell down, drowning in his own blood.

Zabuza had meanwhile managed to reach Gateau. "Payday!" he yelled and used his sword to cleave Gateau from head to toe. "Who else want's to fight the Demon of the Bloody Mist!" he roared as loud as he could. He had dozens of scratches and cuts, but none of them looked as if it would hinder the blood crazed man.

The last thugs were weighing their chances. On the one hand they could fight the Demon and die. On the other hand they could raid the village and leave with money enough to last until someone else hired them. "Let's raid the village!" one of the remaining men yelled.

Suddenly an arrow came flying. And by chance it struck the man. The villagers of Nami no Kuni had arrived. "Get them!" one of the men yelled. "They shall pay for their crimes!" another one yelled.

The last few thugs were trapped. On the one side were the villagers, many of them and they were angry. And on the other side was a real Demon. So they jumped from the bridge and swam to their boats. They would never return here. It was simply not healthy for them to do so.

The villagers looked at the Ninjas. Kakashi was coughing up blood. Sasuke was rapidly loosing blood and would most likely die within minutes. "Let me through!" an aged voice came. An old man in a green outfit came to the wounded. Naruto and Sakura were both covering an eye.

The first one he reached was Kakashi. Haku was already kneeling beside him. "I did what I can. I think he has a chance a survival now. But he won't last long." the boy said.

The doctor nodded. "I will return to you in no time." he said and ran to Sasuke.

Sasuke knew he was dying. He felt the life leaving his body. The doctor looked at him and sadly shook his head. "Only Kami-sama can help you now, my boy." he said sounding defeated.

Naruto and Sakura were watching their teammate. "Teme." was the only word Naruto could choke out.

Sakura felt as if her heart was bursting. The lump in her throat threatened to choke her. She couldn't even cry.

Sasuke spoke again. "You both have lost an eye. I want to give you my eyes as a replacement." he said slowly. Naruto and Sakura were shocked. "Take them as a gift from a friend who noticed too late how wrong he was. You are my friends. And if I give you these eyes a part of me will always be with you." he added.

Naruto and Sakura looked at each other and knelt beside Sasuke.

The doctor nodded. "I will do it." he said. He gave Naruto and Sakura some powerful painkillers. He had no anesthesia with him, so he had to use what he got.

Sasuke activated his Sharingan for the last time. Then he coughed again. "This is the end. Become strong Ninjas, my friends. You are my family and you are precious to me. Farewell." he said becoming quieter with every word. After his farewell he let out his last breath.

Both Naruto and Sakura were now openly crying. Why did they have to find out that they had a friend just to loose him seconds later. It was like a cruel joke of the universe. Snow fell on the scene.

The doctor then cleaned the eye-sockets of Sakura and Naruto from the remaining parts of their original eyes. After this he took out Sasukes eyes and implanted them into Sakuras and Narutos face. Both pulled their Hitai-ate over their new eyes. They lay there, mourning their friend.

The doctor had meanwhile returned to Kakashi. He examined him deeper this time. "Take him to my clinic immediately!" he ordered. Then he turned to Zabuza and Haku. "He will survive. But he will have to recover for at least 2 months. Your aid was great. If you hadn't helped him, he would have died. I will cure him here as good as I can. It would be the best if you went to Konoha as soon as possible to sent a better medic here." the doctor told the two.

"We will do so." Zabuza said. It was his duty to help the man. He had helped him so now it was his turn to help Kakashi. His honor as a swordsman demanded this. And if there was one thing he would never abandon then it was pride.

Tazuna approached the missing Nin. "You are no longer after my head?" he asked.

"No. I am not. How long will it take to complete the bridge?" Zabuza answered.

Tazuna looked at the bridge. "If everything goes fine, about three weeks." he answered. "Good. I will help you out with as many Mizu Bunshin as I can create." Zabuza offered.

Naruto and Sakura were now near the talking adults. "Would it help if I made clones too?" he asked.

Tazuna thought about it. "How many can you create?" he wanted to know.

"Many. I don't count them. I think I can come up with at least 100 solid clones." Naruto answered truthfully.

Zabuza and Tazuna stared at the boy in shock. 100 clones was a really impressing force. Tazuna nodded. "This would help greatly. With so much help I should be able to complete the bridge in two or three days." he said after a while of thinking.

"Then let's do this. So we can go to Konoha and send a medic back here to help Kakashi-Sensei." Naruto answered. Zabuza nodded.

At noon the work on the bridge began again. A literal army of shadow clones, each with a number, was working on the bridge. Naruto and Sakura were holding the deathwatch for their fallen friend and comrade.

Villagers came by and paid their respect to the dead boy. Sakura and Naruto were silent the whole time. They had lost a friend. More than a friend. They had lost a family member. And they had taken his last words to heart. They would train to get better. They would train to become worthy of the gift of their late teammate.

In the evening Zabuza went to visit Kakashi.

"What will you do now, Copy-cat?" Zabuza asked the immobile man. "You are in no condition to travel and your two Genin might not make it back to Konoha. Yet they have to go there so you can get help." Zabuza listed Kakashis dilemma instead of a greeting.

Kakashi sighed very slowly. His side hurt. The doctor had had placed a draining machine near his bed and now his lungs were drained of blood and other liquids that didn't belong there. And the process was excruciatingly painful. "I don't know. I can't send them out alone, they are prey even for normal bandits. I was wondering if you could bring them to Konoha." he said to the missing Nin.

Zabuza laughed. "Copy-cat. I might have acted foolish more often than not but even I am not that foolish. The moment I set a foot near Konoha, your Anbu will come and remove my head. The head will be sent to Kiri so they know I won't return. And my body will be plundered of it's secrets." he told Kakashi. "Going there is suicide for me." he added.

Kakashi nodded. "Yes. Normally it would. But you have proven yourself as a trustworthy ally in field to me. Besides, if things can work out right, it would be possible that you join the Leaf. We know about the state of Kiri. The Mizukage is in no position to demand your head. He is too occupied with his civil war to be able to do anything on a bigger, international scale. And frankly, the relations of Mist and Leaf are not that good. And it is not that uncommon for missing Nin to join other villages." he countered.

Zabuza nodded. "I know. But most missing Nin go to smaller villages, not to one of the most powerful villages, when they want to join a new village. Besides, I still want to free Kirigakure from the Mizukage. He has driven the nation down, destroyed our pride and strength. He has to pay for this." he told Kakashi.

Kakashi smirked. "Well, if you join the Leaf, you might be able to gather support for a strike against the Mizukage. I heard that the rebels are still inspired by your attempt to end a corrupt reign." he said.

Zabuza pondered this. "But would the Leaf Village really be willing to go to war with Kiri just to change the land. Going to war just to change Kiri doesn't really sound like a good plan for your village."

Kakashi pondered this. Zabuza was effectively right. Konohagakure had not much to gain from changing the government of Kiri. Even if they supported the rebels mostly with supplies and small troops, it would still be expensive. And the gains were small.

But maybe there was a way. "Listen, Zabuza. If you join Konoha, well the Mizukage will be happy at first, because he is then safe from you. But you have then the option of searching for people who would support your dream of freeing Kirigakure. And it is true, Konoha has seemingly not much to gain from aiding the rebels. But if Konoha aides, the rebels might be inclined toward a partnership with Konoha." Kakashi said.

Zabuza pondered this. "Still, I would have to make it alive to your village and stay alive long enough for them to hear my pledge." he objected.

Kakashi nodded. "True. I will write a clearance for you. You haven't committed a crime against the leaf, so the Hokage might be more willing to listen to your pledge. And I will stand surety for your loyalty." he told Zabuza.

Zabuza nodded. "I have no better options, I will follow your plan." he said.

Kakashi nodded and Zabuza left.

Three days later the bridge was indeed ready. All villagers, Naruto and Sakura as well as Zabuza and Haku stood there as Tazuna inaugurated the bridge with a little festivity. "May this bridge be a symbol for new hope and a new start." he said solemnly.

After the bridge was inaugurated they returned to Tazunas house. A coffin had come earlier that day and Naruto and Sakura had placed their friend in there. Naruto created two shadow clones to help with carrying the coffin to it's destined graveyard.

All villagers of Wave followed the coffin and the two Genin and two clones carrying it.

At the bridge they stopped. Two workers had dug out a grave.

Slowly Naruto and Sakura let the coffin into the grave. Simultaneously they took some earth and threw it on the coffin. "Farewell, my friend and brother." Naruto said with his voice full of unshed tears.

"Requiesta in pacem, Sasuke-kun. I will never forget you." Sakura choked out under tears. Then she leaned on Naruto for comfort and support.

They stepped away from the grave and watched as villagers of Wave threw flowers and earth into the grave. After a while the two workers closed the grave.

Tazuna spoke up again. "We will never forget how these 4 persons from Konoha came to aid us in a time of great need. We will also never forget the price they paid. Therefore I want to name this bridge "The Great Sasuke Bridge." Is this acceptable for you?" he asked the crowd and the 2 Genin especially.

Naruto and Sakura nodded. "Yes. So we never forget our brother." Naruto managed to get out.

Everyone else nodded slowly. It was decided.

After the funeral Naruto and Sakura went to visit their Sensei at the local clinic. He was still not out of danger. As the two Genin entered his room, he smiled at them lightly. "I will be bound to a bed for a long time." he began, breathing very short. Every deep breath would bring unbearable pain. "I have talked with Zabuza. He will take over as your Sensei and bring you back to Konoha. Haku will accompany you." he said.

Naruto and Sakura nodded slowly. They had not slept in the last days. And it was not likely that they would go to sleep now. No, they were eager to get on the road to Konoha. So they could send a medic here to help Kakashi. And they wanted to leave from here, where much reminded them of Sasukes death.

Zabuza and Haku choose this moment to enter the room. "Kakashi. I will take the three kids to Konoha as I have promised and I will teach them." Zabuza came straight to business.

Kakashi nodded. Then he handed Zabuza a paper. "This will give you protection from ANBU." he said.

Zabuza nodded and took the paper. It was a surety from Kakashi. He had pledged his own life. If Zabuza made a move against Konoha Kakashi would be held responsible and executed too. The former Kiri-Nin took this as a sign of trust from the copy-cat Ninja. And he had come to respect the Konoha Elite Ninja and deemed him worthy of his trust. And he would not betray him. His honor demanded this.

Kakashi then looked at his team again. "I hope you will do well. I will teach you how to use your eyes, when I have recovered. This is a promise." the Jonin said solemnly. "Naruto, you need more Chakra control, you have to learn water walking. Sakura, you need more Chakra reserves. I'm sure that Zabuza can help you developing greater reserves." he gave advice. "Teach them well Zabuza. As of now, you are the Sensei of my team.

Zabuza nodded. "I will." he promised. Then he looked to Naruto and Sakura. "We leave in one hour. Get ready. We meet at the bridge." he said and left the room. Haku followed him.

Sakura and Naruto waited some minutes before leaving their Sensei as well. "We will send help as soon as we return to Konoha. This is a promise." Naruto said.

Sakura nodded. "We leave now, Sensei. We hope you will be better soon." she added.

Kakashi nodded. "Until we meet again." he answered. With this words his charges left the room.

An hour later the group was assembled at the bridge. The stonemason had made the sign "The Great Sasuke Bridge." Naruto and Sakura promised to return to the village. And after everyone had bid farewell they were on their way back home.

In the evening they made a camp. Zabuza and Haku took one tent, Naruto and Sakura the other. Haku took the first watch, Zabuza wanted to take the last shift. Naruto and Sakura almost immediately fell onto their sleeping bags.

A while later Zabuza and Haku heard the sounds of persons having a nightmare. "Why, Sasuke-kun? Why?" came the desperate call from Sakura.

"Teme. Don't leave!" was heard from Naruto.

Zabuza sighed. They had yet to come to terms with the loss of their comrade and they surely were not over their first kills.

Zabuza woke the two kids up. "You both had a nightmare. I take it that you saw Sasuke die?" he said. Both nodded silently. "I tell you something. Don't think about his death any longer. Remember him as a friend and brother. He died to protect someone special to him. Honor this and don't feel guilty for his death. This is the best advice I can give you." Zabuza said deep in thought.

Naruto and Sakura nodded slowly. "And I'm sure you will feel guilt over your first victims. Don't feel too guilty. They were mercenaries and bandits. For money they would happily sell their family into slavery or even kill them. Don't feel guilty over their death. With killing them you took them every chance to commit further crimes. And believe me, they were criminals to boot. They only got what they deserved." he added.

Sakura looked at him. "Will it become easier to kill?" she wanted to know.

"Yes. Killing is our business. We may let Genin chase wayward pets or do gardening, but in the end they will have to face killing. We live in a world of war, were treaties are made and broken in hours if there is an opportunity to do so. I tell you something. There are Shinobi and Kunoichi out there who are younger or as old as you and they have killed many people. I heard of one child in Suna, who shall be strong enough to kill Jonin or even Anbu. From what I could gather he is rumored to be one of the few "flee on sight" marked Ninjas in the Iwagakure Bingo Book. Your Yondaime Hokage, the Sannin, your Sensei and some Ninja from other countries are marked this way, too. I don't know if it is correct but he shall have killed a group of 20 Chunin with two attacks. But to return to your question. Killing will become easier. And it helps, when you regret every kill. This stops you from becoming an insane killing machine." he told the kids.

Both nodded darkly. "Very well then. I will let you sleep. Haku and I will shift the watch between us. You two need rest." he said and got up to leave the tent.

"Thank you, Sensei." Sakura said quietly.

Zabuza nodded and smiled under his bandages. He could work with these kids, that much he could tell. They had been yanked from their sheltered world brutally. And while he was a brutal and cruel man, he still had a heart, buried under all these layers of evil. He could admit that he pitied them. Even if it was only to himself.

Later that night Zabuza looked into the tent of his two new charges. They were asleep, clinging to each other for comfort and shielding from the nightmares. "Do whatever helps you overcoming your nightmares." he said quietly and left the tent. They would need their sleep.

It took the new team Zabuza 4 days to reach Konoha. They had moved as fast as they could. Only stopping for quick snacks and a nightly rest.

The two Chunin watching the gate were quite surprised when they saw Team Zabuza approaching Konoha. The first one spoke up. "Halt! What do you want in Konoha?" he asked Zabuza. Then his gaze fell on Naruto. "Uzumaki? Where is your Sensei?" the Chunin wanted to know.

Naruto sighed. "Kakashi is still in Wave Country. He needs a very good medic really fast." he said urgently.

"You have to report to the Hokage immediately." the Chunin said. Then he turned to Zabuza again. "But what are you doing here?" he wanted to know.

"I came here on the wish of Hatake Kakashi. He wants me to train his Genins, until he has recovered. Haku here is my apprentice. He will hopefully be allowed to fill the gap in Kakashis team." Zabuza told the guard.

The guard nodded. "Well. 2 ANBU will escort you to the Hokage." he said.

In this moment 3 ANBU appeared. "Come with us, please." the woman said.

Zabuza nodded. "I entrust you with my sword. It shall underline that I will not bring harm to Konoha." he said serious. Then he handed the woman the paper from Kakashi.

The man nodded and took the sword. "Follow us." the second man said.

A while later they were standing in the Hokages office. Naruto and Sakura were telling the story of their mission to Wave. And how it had ended.

The aged Hokage sighed deeply. "I see. Now you both are having a Sharingan eye. I will immediately send an ANBU team to Wave, so they can check Gateaus headquarter there. A medic will be with them to look after Kakashi-kun."

Then he looked at Zabuza and Haku. "I have no problem with granting Haku citizenship of Konoha. He was never officially a Mist Nin, so this not difficult. You however. I must say, that I'm inclined to think you had good reasons for your treason. I know that the Mizukage is a corrupt and evil man that drove Kiri into the ground. You are however still one of the 7 most-wanted Kiri-Nuke-Nin. The council will have to decide about this."

Zabuza sighed. "Please tell me that your council does not consist of ignorant fools who are easily blinded by greed, fear, hate and prejudices, Hokage-Sama." Zabuza pleaded.

The Hokage chuckled amused. "I take it you have met the civilian councilmen and women?" he said in an attempt to light the mood with a joke.

Zabuza shook his head. "No, I did not have the pleasure to meet them. But I had the pleasure with the corrupt thing calling itself the council of Kirigakure. And their corrupt leader, the Mizukage. Corrupt bastard." Zabuza answered.

Sarutobi nodded. "The council will meet today. Then we will discuss if you are allowed to become a Ninja of Konohagakure. I will allow you to carry your weapon with you. Can you swear not to cause harm to citizens of Konoha?" the Hokage asked.

Zabuza nodded. "I swear it on my blade and my honor as a swordsman." he said serious. Then he remembered something. "But I will defend myself if I'm attacked." he added.

"Totally acceptable." the Hokage agreed.

Then he handed Haku a Konoha headband. "I allow you to enter the Konoha forces as a Genin. I will put you in a team with Naruto and Sakura." he said.

"Thank you, Hokage-sama. I will honor this headband and I will protect the village with my life." Haku promised serious.

After this the team got dismissed. Naruto, Sakura and their new teammate Haku left the building. The mission was marked as a successful A-rank. And they received A-rank paying. Sasuke was marked K.I.A. and his name would be the newest entry on the Konoha Memorial stone.

Zabuza stayed behind, he wanted to wait for the council meeting.

Naruto and Sakura headed for Ichirakus Ramen Stand. Both deep in thought. Haku followed them. Sakura placed an order. "Four bowls of Ramen please. Each for one of my teammates." she said slowly.

"Four bowls coming up." Teuchi confirmed. Then he looked at the group. "When will the 4th arrive?" he asked.

Naruto answered. "Never. The 4th bowl is for Sasuke. Our friend and teammate." he said slowly and quietly.

Ayame held her hands before her face. "What happened, Naruto-kun?" she asked.

"We were on this mission to Wave. We had to protect the bridge builder Tazuna until he had completed his bridge. We fought some Nuke-Nin on the way there, but we decided to stick to the mission. So we continued with our journey." Naruto began to tell.

"In Wave we had to fight Zabuza Momochi, the Demon of the Bloody Mist. Kakashi-Sensei managed to beat him, but barely. Haku rescued him before Kakashi-Sensei could kill him. Then we continued to Tazunas house and we guarded him as he was completing the bridge." he continued slowly.

"A bit over a week after our first fight against Zabuza he attacked a second time. This time with the help of Haku. Sakura was guarding Tazuna while Sasuke was fighting against Haku. I saved Tazunas daughter from two thugs who were ordered to take her as hostage to break Tazuna." Naruto told Ayame further. He smiled lightly at the memory of his heroic deed.

"Kakashi-Sensei fought against Zabuza who had hidden himself in a fog he had created through a Jutsu. As I arrived, I went to support Sasuke in his fight. But Haku managed to beat us. Sasuke threw himself in front of me to protect me from a hail of Senbon. I thought he had died and found the strength to beat Haku." Naruto continued.

"Kakashi-Sensei had meanwhile trapped Zabuza and was preparing to kill him as Gateau came. He told us to kill Haku and Zabuza and wanted to make us an offer afterwards." Naruto told Ayame.

She seemed quite shocked. "But he had hired them!" she exclaimed.

"Yes. And he never intended to pay them. He was a honorless bastard. Kakashi-Sensei offered Zabuza a truce. Together we fought against Gateaus thugs." Naruto continued.

Sakura began her part of the story. "I had just found out that Sasuke-kun still lived when one of the bandits came after me, Sasuke-kun and Tazuna-san. The man tried to kill me but Sasuke-kun took the strike to protect me. I killed the man, but I lost an eye." she told Ayame. The girl was shocked.

"It became worse. Because of Sakuras yell Kakashi-Sensei and I lost focus for a moment. I also lost an eye and Kakashi-Sensei was pierced with a sword. Zabuza had managed to kill Gateau and was about to kill the last thugs when the villagers arrived. The bandits fled and a doctor came to Sasuke and Kakashi-Sensei." Naruto took over telling again.

"Haku had already helped Kakashi-Sensei so the doctor came looking after Sasuke. He told us that Sasuke was about to die. Sasuke gave us his eyes as replacement for our lost eyes. We took them so he can still see the world." Naruto finished his story.

Ayame was silently crying now. She came round the counter and hugged both younger children. "The meal is on the house." Teuchi said slowly.

Naruto and Sakura nodded.

Haku then turned to Ayame. "I am sorry for the death of Sasuke Uchiha." he said serious.

Naruto shook his head.

"No. We have to blame Gateau. He was the root of all this. His greed caused all this. It is all his fault. You were just at the wrong place in the wrong time." Sakura said. "If it had not been for your kind heart and your reluctance to take Sasukes life, I would have died as well. Because Sasuke died protecting me. Otherwise I and Tazuna might be dead as well. Hell it is even possible that we all could have died and Gateau would have won." she added.

"Still. If we hadn't fought you." Haku began again.

Naruto shook his head. "Then Gateau would have found someone else. Maybe even someone more powerful." he countered.

Sakura decided to end the argument. "It has happened this way and it brings us nothing to think about what if scenarios. Sasuke-kun is dead, we both have a Sharingan eye and Haku is our new team member. And by chance we will have a new Sensei this afternoon." she said sternly.

Both boys nodded and ceased their argument. "We will have to look for information on our eyes in the Uchiha compound." she added.

Naruto nodded. "I will send my clones to work." he said. Then he created 20 Shadow Clones and sent them to Sasukes home.

Sakura looked at Naruto quizzically. "Naruto. How can you create so many Shadow Clones? I have overheard some bits and pieces about them. This is a Jonin Level technique. Even the Hokage can not create such an army of clones. Back in Wave you created over 100 clones. How can you create so much clones?" Sakura wanted to know.

Naruto fidgeted nervously. "Promise me that you won't tell anyone!" he said dead serious.

Sakuras curiosity peaked. "I promise." she said as serious.

Teuchi, Ayame and Haku swore as well.

"The reason why I can create so many shadow clones is, that I am the vessel for the Kyuubi no Kitsune who attacked Konoha almost 13 years ago. You see the story of how the Yondaime killed the demon was only a story. No person has the power to kill one of the tailed beasts. So he did the next best thing. He sealed the demon in a newborn child. Me. And because of this I have great Chakra reserves. And because of this I can not create a single Bunshin to save my life, but I can create an army of Kage Bunshin." he told the 4 listening persons. Most of the words were not his own but Irukas or the Hokages words, but they were the best ones he could use here. His own words were simply not good enough. He resolved his will to thank the old man and Iruka-Sensei some time soon for explaining things to him.

Teuchi nodded. "You are a Jinchuuriki. The power of a human sacrifice. And let me tell you something. Don't believe anyone who dares calling you a demon. You are in fact the only thing that keeps the demon they are referring to from killing them." the old man clarified.

Sakura and Ayame hugged the boy. "You are Naruto. The annoying friend I got to know. Not an incarnation of the Kyuubi. Who tells something different is a blinded fool." Sakura assured him.

Ayame continued. "You are the best customer at our Ramen stand. You care about others. A demon wouldn't do so. A demon would destroy this village." she said.

Naruto was happy. They did not hate him. They showed him that they cared about him. This lightened his mood.

A while later Sakura went home.

Meanwhile in the Council Chamber. The Council was discussing the mission to Wave and Zabuzas request to become a Konoha Shinobi.

One of the civilian Councilmen spoke first. "I am totally against this. This man has led a rebellion against the Mizukage and the Council of Kiri. Who tells us that he won't do the same here in Konoha." he stated.

"I disagree." Nara Shikaku replied. "It is true that he wanted to overthrow the regime of the Mizukage. But the Mizukage and the Council are corrupt. They changed the famous and powerful Kirigakure in a Shadow of it's former self. 20 years ago Kiri Shinobi were under the strongest, best trained and most feared Shinobi. Nowadays they are seen as weak. The strongest Shinobi left the land because they did not want to stay in a land were the profit of the Kage and his council was the only important thing. Were corruption reigned." the head of the Nara clan explained.

Hiashi Hyuga took the opportunity to speak. "Zabuza Momochi is a very skilled Shinobi. Our ANBU could greatly profit from his knowledge. Then there is the fact that Hatake Kakashi recommended him and stands surety for him. And no one can question the loyalty of Kakashi." the head of the Hyuga clan said.

"Still. We might profit from his knowledge but what about Kirigakure. They might be offended by us taking in one of their most prestigious Nuke-Nin." the civilian, who had objected earlier, asked.

The Hokage nodded at this. "You all know that Kiri is only a shell of it's former dark glory. With the erasing of bloodlines and ongoing civil wars Mizu no Kuni is mostly operating within its own borders. They are still powerful in numbers but there are at least two fractions fighting each other. The forces loyal to the Mizukage and the supporters of the rebellion. I think the Mizukage would like it if Zabuza is bound to another village, so he can't openly support any action against his regime. Because this would set another war in motion. Something most villages want to avoid right now." he explained. "In the end, staying with a village might be safer for Zabuza but it also foils his ambition to end the corrupt reign of the Mizukage. Think about this." the aged Hokage added.

After some pointless banters the Council voted with three quarters majority in favor of Zabuzas request.

The Hokage handed Zabuza a headband. "Welcome to the forces of Konoha, Momochi Zabuza. May you honor this headband and everything it stands for."

Zabuza took the band and nodded. "I will do so, this I swear on my honor." he said seriously.

The Hokage nodded. "Meet me tomorrow at 1000 to discuss your new team. Dismissed." the Hokage said.

Zabuza nodded and used a Kiri Shunshin to leave.

The next issue in the Council was way graver. It was about the fact that the last loyal Uchiha had died on the Mission to Wave country. The civilian Councilmen were beyond annoyed and enraged. "How could Hatake do such a thing? Leading a bunch of Genin on such a mission? Endangering the last loyal Uchiha!" one of them shouted.

Tsume Inuzuka looked at them with disgust. "Do you imply that the loss of any other person would have mattered less?" she asked. "What about, let's say ... Naruto?" she asked with a dangerous glint in her eyes.

Inoichi Yamanaka continued. "It is a fact that Uchiha Sasuke is dead. But we can't do anything about this. From what I took from the survey about Wave mission, doing nothing would have been bad for Konoha in the long term. And it could have happened any other time." he said pointedly. "Every Shinobi going on a mission accepts that he may die there. We can't forbid a Shinobi taking riskful missions just because we want to save his Kekkei Genkai. This does nothing good in the end. Using a person with a Kekkei Genkai as a breeding stock is inhumane." he continued.

"I'm quite sure that Hatake would have nominated his Genin cell for the Chunin exams. And I have heard that the Kazekages children will also participate. If Sasuke had encountered them he would have died." Chouza Akimichi explained.

"And if I may remind you that it was a thug who killed him. Not a Nukenin. And that he died protecting his teammate." Tsume spoke again.

"And what is with this boy Zabuza brought with him? Does he have a Kekkei Genkai?" a civilian woman asked.

"Yes, he is a natural Hyoton user. He is the last survivor of an extinct clan from Kiri." the Hokage confirmed.

The council nodded. "Well, it seems that the Uchiha Clan is now officially extinct. But we have a new Clan in Konoha." another civilian spoke. The Hokage ended the meeting.

After the meeting the Hokage went back to his bureau. "Sent me Yamato." he ordered his secretary. The woman nodded and contacted the Anbu in question.

5 minutes later Yamato appeared before the Hokage. "You have called?" he wanted to know.

The Hokage nodded. "Yes. I have a mission for you. It is the supervision of Momochi Zabuza. I accepted him into the ranks of Konoha, but I can't trust him blindly. Supervise him for 2 months. You are not to be detected under any circumstances! I want to know if he is really trustworthy. And only a hidden supervision will tell me this." the old man said.

Yamato nodded. "I will do as you command, Hokage-sama." the Anbu said and vanished, intent on following Zabuza wherever the man went.

And Hizuren Sarutobi sighed. True, he trusted Kakashi and had said so, but he had to keep in mind that not all persons out there, coming with smooth words, were thinking along lines that were benevolent for the leaf. And he felt his age once again. "I really need a successor. And then I will never again take the mantle of the Hokage!" he swore to himself. Really, the job was too much for an old man. It was time for someone younger to lead the village. Now he just had to find a suitable replacement.

The next morning came and Naruto woke up to the most delicate smell in the world. Ramen. Seeing that he didn't have a place to stay, Naruto had offered Haku to sleep at his house for the night. Now Naruto bolted from his bed, jumped into his clothes and raced into the kitchen were Haku had prepared 2 cups of Instant Ramen. Naruto was happy. "All these precious Ramen." he said, grinning widely. Then he and Haku ate their breakfast and went on their way to the Hokage tower.

At the tower they met Sakura. The three of them entered and went to the secretary. She looked at them and smiled. "You can go on, the Hokage is waiting for you." she said and pointed to the door.

Naruto ran to the door. "Hello, Ojiji *!" he yelled. Sakura sighed and Haku was amused. Calling the most powerful Shinobi in Konoha an old man was quite funny in his eyes.

The Hokage smiled at the three. "Hello. We are here to discuss your future as a team. You know that Kakashi will be bound to a bed for quite some time. But I found someone who will take you over for the time being." Sarutobi announced.

All three were now eager to hear who it was.

In this moment the door opened and Zabuza came into the room. "Team 7, I will be your new Sensei." he announced.

-

End of chapter 1.

-

Another idea of mine. I have read another story, where Sakura and Naruto get the Sharingan Eyes from a dying Sasuke. It is called "Team Seven Minus One" and I can only recommend reading it. You can find it in my favorite stories list.

There is another "Naruto and Sakura get the Sharingan eyes from the dying Sasuke" out there. It was written by EroSlackerMicha, is called "Team Sharingan" and I recommend reading it. It is also in my favorites.

I wasn't to sure if I should give the 2 remaining Genin from Team 7 the Sharingan Eyes or not. After all it has been done before. But I then thought 'why not?'

When I first had the idea of Zabuza as Sensei for Team 7 thought "How can I have Zabuza as the Sensei for Team 7? And who shall die?" At first I thought of letting Kakashi and one of the Genins or Haku die, but in the end I decided to kill only Sasuke and let him give the Sharingan Eyes as a parting gift to his friends. I even thought of killing Naruto, but this would have brought an entire tail of problems. The first being that Gaara would have destroyed Konoha, because no one would have been there to stop him. Killing Sakura as she was, was more or less out of question.

However, write what you think about this story. I hope that this story is quite original, but I don't think that there are many stories out there, having Zabuza as Sensei for Team 7. I am however pondering another name for Team Seven.

The options are

Team Kiri

Team Momochi

Team Zabuza

Team Demon

Maybe even something else. I'm willing to listen to suggestions.

And I want to know whether you want to read the canon prelim fights or if you want to see them in another way.

I saw that some people thought Sasuke especially was acting out of character. Well, I have to tell you this. Dying and near-death-experiences tend to make humans regret their mistakes. I think Sasuke is in character for a dying person. I know because I know a person who tried to commit suicide. And I was there when she regretted everything, especially trying to kill herself. Luckily for her she botched it up. She used the wrong way to poison herself with nicotine. She forgot to put the tobacco in water. She just became sick.

I thank Nightwish, Motörhead, Metallica, Megadeth, Darkthrone and The Doors for inspiring music.


	2. Chapter 2

Sensei Zabuza

Sensei Zabuza

A Naruto Fanfiction

Disclaimer: See Chapter 1

Author's notes: Holy Hell! 700 hits, 18 Reviews, 13 Favorites, 13 Alerts and 3 C2's. And that in a month. I can only say Thank you very much. I'm also very glad that so many people like the story.

Well, most people voted in favor of "Team Demon" and I think I will use this. But note that I will also use Team 7. Both terms for the team are exchangeable.

A reviewer said that Zabuza wouldn't like to be referred to as Demon any longer. I think he is very proud of his nickname. So, he stays the Demon of the Bloody Mist. After all it was a hard earned nickname.

Anyway, please don't expect fast updates for this story. Should I update fast that only means that I'm heavily inspired. And another thing. I try to type chapters between 5k and 10k words. A. N. don't count. This naturally takes longer than typing chapters between 1k and 2k words.

One reviewer wanted to know why the two don't have the Mangekyo Sharingan. Easy one. You have to kill your best friend to gain this form of the Sharingan. And they didn't kill Sasuke. They knew he was dying and they had accepted that they were unable to do anything about this. Thus the mental stress wasn't the same as when you betray the person closest to you and kill said person in cold blood. Without remorse.

Naruto might get a weapon, and I personally like the idea of a scythe.

Just if any of you think, this will be an über powerful Naruto, this will not happen. He will be strong, but reasonably so. Godlike or so will not happen. I mean, a story where the main character can't be beaten is boring. Your only interest in such an story is "How fast will he win this time?"

Anyway I have read the reviews, some ideas I might use, but it is nothing definite. Being unpredictable is good.

Little complaining. Why are there so many Yaoi stories out there? Why do Yaoi fangirls insist on coupling Naruto with Sasuke? Or Rock Lee with Gaara? Or any other male x male they can think of? Can't they submit such stories on Yaoi sites only? Where they don't annoy someone who doesn't like Yaoi? But I don't think this will happen anytime soon. So the persons not liking Yaoi will have to bear this. Annoying.

Oh and a second one. Why do so many persons lay good ideas to waste by using the boring standard Pairings. I mean, I don't belong to the persons outright hating a pairing (except Ranma x Akane) but most stories with standard Pairings are mostly boring written. For example, when you have a second demon attacking Konoha together with Kyuubi it is almost always Kyuubis mate and Naruto must find the 'mysterious' container for the second demon for some (silly) reason. And in the most cases the second container is: Surprise! Hinata. Maybe using someone else for once? Like Ino for example. But this is almost never done. Sad, but true.

Third one. This has something to do with the excessive use of OC's in some stories I have read. Too often these OC's are almost godlike and often enough they are used to show the inferiority of a character. Most of these OC's were plain annoying to read about and they killed off a otherwise acceptable story. For me OC's are mostly Cannon Fodder. Not something I want to read about. I mean some persons seem to have something resembling an inferiority complex towards a person like Sasuke. They have to bash him like there is no tomorrow. And they use OC's for this. Unbeatable, godlike, unbelievable great persons who show that Sasuke is inferior. I admit that I like some bashing of characters. But creating someone, 'unbeatable by someone inferior like Sasuke' is just annoying to read about. Worshipping Naruto like he is some deity having become flesh is just sinewy. I don't have anything against a strong Naruto or strong OC's but creating persons who are so awesome that they together with Naruto can create an SSSS-ranked Ninjutsu and do S-ranked missions like it is nothing is just pathetic. Because the persons do often enough appear like this in the first or second chapter. And they are mostly young. Between 8 and 14. I could continue this for some dozen lines but it doesn't change anything. Poorly written OC's will exist further. And I stop reading every story where the OC's are too poorly written.

And a complaining about bashing. I admit that some bashing is fun but too much is too much. Little jabs at a persons personality quirks are mostly fun to read. But constantly showing a person as deranged, unable to see reality and being so stuck up on another persons superiority that you wonder why said person is not send to the closed ward of the psychiatric clinic is just ridiculous. Bashing like this is fun to read for a first time. The second time however it is just boring. And to give an example. Many persons do write that Uchiha Sasuke believes himself to be the greatest and an unbeatable Genius. Do you honestly want to tell me that you can believe that Sasuke thinks of himself as the greatest Ninja of all, totally unbeatable, or that Sakura can't see it if Naruto is stronger than Sasuke? Scenario for this: Standard Super Naruto comes to the Academy. Standard Emo Gay Asshole Sasuke thinks 'Dobe. Must be a weakling.' Sasuke challenges Naruto. Standard Sasuke Fangirl #1, delusional Sakura thinks 'Ha Sasuke can't loose to someone like this boy. He is the greatest!' Naruto beats Sasuke without even trying to do so. Sasuke looses badly. Sakura yells. "The Freak cheated!" or something like this. "There is no way that someone like him could win against the great and mighty Sasuke." she adds. – Scenario end. Sounds ridiculous, wretched and pathetic. Yet I often read something like this. I mean this Sakura can be sent straight to the closed ward of the Asylum and get the heavy medication that makes persons peaceful. I mean the really good stuff. A person like the scenario Sakura would never be allowed near a weapon because she might harm herself and others.

And I hate useless killing off. Mainly the sand sibs. In far too many stories they are killed. But the peak of hypocrisy is when Gaara and Kankuro get killed but Temari survives, because she has already formed a bond with Shikamaru. I read something like this once. It took all my willpower to not write a venomous and cynic Review to this story. And I stop reading every story where one or more of the sand sibs is killed off needlessly. I will not flame, but I will hate the story. I'm a fan of the Sand sibs and I don't like to see them killed.

Oh, and with the amount of Naruto worshipping and poorly written Naruto stories, I begin to like stories where the blonde is killed and will not have a second chance at life

Damn, the Authors notes are long but it was something I wanted to write. As always, you don't have to agree to my complainings, but maybe think about it?

Recommended Songs: '1916' and 'God was never on your side' and 'Orgasmatron' from Motörhead. 'Geburt einer Nation' from Laibach. "The Man with the Harmonica" and "Cockey's Song" by Ennio Morricone.

Anyway have fun with Chapter 2.

-

Chapter 2: New Team and New Sensei.

-

The three Genins looked at Zabuza. "You will be our new Sensei?" Sakura asked.

"Jup." Zabuza answered. He then looked at them "I promised the Copy Cat that I would train you. And I stick to my word." he told her. Then he grinned under his bandages. "I will train you hard. You will curse the day of my birth. And you will curse the sky green." he said amused. Two looks of absolute Horror where his reward. Yes, he would really enjoy torturing, em, training them.

Sarutobi had to chuckle at this. "Don't scare them unnecessarily:" he said grinning a bit.

Zabuza shrugged. "I intend to train them hard." Then he looked at his team. "Wait for me at the Konoha Memorial Stone." he ordered. The Genin nodded and left the room.

"Well, there is something you need to know. The Chunin Exams take place in about a month. I'm sure that Kakashi would have nominated his team for these." he began.

Zabuza nodded. "I intend to nominate them. They have held their own against a real threat and they understand how to fight." he answered the Hokage.

Sarutobi nodded. "Well, Haku has already an A-rank mission done. But he still needs 7 more missions done before he is allowed to participate in the exams." the Hokage said.

Zabuza nodded at this. "He will have the necessary missions done when the exams are there." he answered.

Then he looked at the Hokage. "Well, you wanted to tell me something about the two kids?" he began.

Sarutobi nodded. "Yes. Some facts. The first is, that Sakura and Naruto will need every training they can get. Naruto has the Kyuubi no Kitsune sealed inside of him. And my student Jiraiya told me about an organization called the Akatsuki. They consist of high class Nukenin and their goals are as of now unknown. There are rumors that they chase the Bijus and the Jinchuuriki but that is not confirmed. Hoshigaki Kisame is a part of the organization, too." Sarutobi began.

Zabuza growled. "This old shark still lives. Well, I will prepare them as good as possible." he said.

Sarutobi took a puff from his pipe. "I'm glad to hear this. Tell Naruto something about his Kage Bunshin. They give their knowledge to the creator when dispelled. Now I don't want to delay your meeting with your team any longer." the Hokage said and Zabuza vanished in a swirl of water.

Ten minutes later he appeared at the memorial stone. He looked at the bunch. 'Well, I will test them right now. Let's see how they fare.' he thought and grinned. "Kirigakure no Jutsu." he whispered and mist began to fill the area.

Naruto, Sakura and Haku watched as the mist came into the clearing. "A test." Sakura immediately whispered to the boys.

Haku nodded. "It was part of the Kiri Genin exam to show the ability to survive a potentially deadly situation." All three were thinking about what to do. Haku was sure that Zabuza only wanted to test them. And he decided to lean a bit back.

Naruto sprang meanwhile into action. With a yell of "Tajuu Kage Bunshin no Jutsu!" he created an literal army of clones. A third of them henged into Sakura and another third into Haku. "Let's see if he finds the real ones." the real Naruto grinned. Sakura and Haku nodded. This was indeed a quite interesting plan. Using an army as distraction in this fog was the best idea.

Zabuza gaped as he saw hundreds of clones of his team. "Good on the spot planning." he grinned. "Mizu Bunshin no Jutsu." he said and 20 Mizu Bunshin were created. They would help him against this literal army.

Naruto looked into the mist. "Zabuza made clones himself." he whispered. He had felt how some of his clones had been destroyed. At the same time.

Sakura pondered this. "We retreat into the woods. Mizu Bunshin can't operate well on dry land." she said. Naruto and Haku nodded and the three of them retreated into the forest.

Zabuza chuckled. "Not bad. They know they can't win if I'm near water so they try to get away from it, limiting my options. Not bad at all." he grinned. This would surely become interesting. Then he followed them into the forest.

Team 7 was busy discussing their course of action. Naruto had revealed his Sharingan and was busy searching for Zabuza. But Zabuza stayed hidden. Naruto cursed.

Suddenly an eerie laughter was heard. "Quite impressive. But this ends now." the three heard. Naruto, Sakura and Haku separated.

Zabuza grinned. They had shown what he wanted to see. The ability to evade an too powerful enemy and to use the terrain in their favor. And this army of Naruto clones was plain annoying to fight against. He chuckled and let the mist vanish.

Sakura, Haku and Naruto watched from some trees as the mist vanished. "Come here." Zabuza ordered. As the test seemed over they made their way to their new Sensei.

Zabuza looked at them. "Well. I have tested you and you made it past my test. We are now a team." he announced. All three Genins were happy. Zabuza grinned. "Well. It seems that we are a team now. I will train you, so that you can become Chunin. I will not tolerate slacking off or complaining. My training is hard, but it will bear fruit for you." he announced.

Naruto and Sakura were a bit pale but they wanted to become stronger Ninjas, so they would take the training head on and improve.

Zabuza looked at Naruto. "Do you know that you learn everything one of your Kage Bunshin learns when it is dispelled?" he asked. Narutos eyes became big like saucers.

"What?" he asked.

Zabuza nodded. "Yes. Send 1000 clones doing tree climbing. I'm quite sure that you can produce so much clones. Let them practice until they run out of Chakra." he ordered.

Naruto nodded and yelled. "Tajuu Kage Bunshin no Jutsu!" 1000 clones poofed into existence.

Zabuza shook his head. "For almost every other person such a move is suicidal. They would drain themselves of Chakra." he commented.

Then he looked at Sakura. "Two things. The first thing is, we get you a good weapon. And the second thing will be physical training. As you are, your stamina and Chakra reserves are atrocious. This will have to be corrected. Because of this you will have to wear some weights." he said. Sakura nodded. "And you will eat some nutritious meals. Distracting an enemy with your body is quite helpful, but it doesn't always work. If your enemy is gay or doesn't care you are screwed if you can't fight properly. Because of this we will increase your strength." he added.

Sakura nodded again. "Hai, Sensei." she confirmed.

Ten minutes later Sakura and Zabuza entered a weapon Shop. The girl behind the counter raised an eyebrow. What could Uchiha Sasukes number one fangirl want in a weaponshop. And the man accompanying her wasn't someone she knew.

Suddenly Rock Lee came into the Shop. "TenTen!" he yelled.

TenTen nodded from behind the counter. "What is it, Lee?" she wanted to know.

"Have you heard it? Uchiha Sasuke is dead!" he told her, ignoring Sakura and Zabuza. "And the eternal rival of our Sensei is heavily injured." he continued.

TenTen looked at him quizzically. "Dead? How did he die?" she wanted to know.

Lee looked at her seriously. "He died the most youthful way. Protecting his teammate from harm." he said.

Sakura got a sinking feeling in her stomach. Ino would hear about this. She could only do one thing. Talk to Ino before she heard a botched version of the events leading to Sasukes death.

Zabuza had meanwhile looked at the weapons. He looked at an one-handed sword. He took it and gave some testing swings. After some tries he nodded satisfied. "Sakura. Try this sword." he ordered. Sakura broke out of her thoughts and gave the sword some swings. It felt good. It wasn't too heavy and laid good in her hand. Zabuza nodded. "I think this sword suits you." he said.

Then he went to the counter. TenTen eyed him a bit suspicious. "Hello. I want to buy this sword and some weights for my pupil." Zabuza said.

TenTen looked at him and his giant sword. "You are Zabuza Momochi. I thought you were a Kiri Nukenin." TenTen said bluntly.

"I joined Konoha yesterday. Now I'm training my own team." he said.

TenTen looked at Sakura. "Isn't Hatake Kakashi her Sensei?" she wanted to know.

"Hatake Kakashi is injured and I have taken over his job as team leader of Team 7." Zabuza told her.

TenTen nodded. "And now you train Sakura in Kenjutsu?" she wanted to know.

Zabuza nodded. "A pure Genjutsu fighter is pretty useless without some back-up. So I train her in swordmanship so she isn't helpless when fighting on her own." Zabuza explained.

TenTen nodded. "Well, the sword costs 25000 Ryo (500 Euro or 800 Dollar). Weight sets begin at 2000 Ryo for the smallest ones. They weigh 0,5 kilos per part." TenTen told Zabuza.

He nodded. "Well, I take a set of them and a set of 1,5 kilo weights." he ordered.

TenTen nodded and brought the items forth. "This makes 30000 Ryo." she said and put everything in a box. Zabuza paid and left the Shop together with Sakura.

They headed back to the training grounds, where Naruto laid, passed out. Zabuza looked at Haku "What happened?" Zabuza wanted to know.

"Naruto dispelled all of his clones at once after an hour of training." Haku answered.

Zabuza sighed. "Oh, great. Now we can wait and see if his mind is jelly or not." he said in his gruff and uncaring voice. Inwardly he was thinking along the lines of 'The gaki is better not dead or the Hokage kills me. He seems quite fond of the gaki.'

He was very relieved when Naruto sat up and groaned, clutching his head in pain. Zabuza chuckled and walked to him, hitting him over the head. "OW!" Naruto said and clutched his head.

Zabuza grinned. "This should teach you to not dispel all of your clones at once. You are lucky that your brain isn't dripping out of your head." he said in his gruff voice. Mentally he was relieved but he would rather die under torture than admit this. He had a reputation to maintain after all. Then he looked at Sakura. "Strap the weights on." he ordered. Sakura nodded and did what he told. "Give me 20 laps around the clearing. Then do 50 push-ups, 50 sit-ups and 25 press-ups." he ordered. Sakuras face fell in an image of absolute horror. But she complied. Weighed down by 2,5 kilos she began her training program.

Naruto looked at her when Zabuza handed him his weights. "Double her program." he simply said. Now it was Narutos turn to look at Zabuza with absolute horror.

Haku whispered something in Zabuzas ear. "Oh. And if your not done in an hour I forbid you Ramen for the next week." he added.

Narutos face lost the last remains of color. "No Ramen." he muttered in absolute horror. Naruto ran for his dear Ramen.

And Zabuza chuckled. "See? The gaki is motivated like nothing." he said to a slightly frowning Haku. Zabuza grinned. "You should train your skills of creating water from the air." he recommended.

Haku nodded. "I will do so, Zabuza-sama." he confirmed and began concentrating. And Zabuza thought back to his Genin days when he had to learn how to use a sword. It was helpful that he had had a simple one-handed sword like the one he had bought for Sakura today.

45 minutes later Naruto was done with his exercise. He was panting but he still grinned. He had saved his precious Ramen from the evil threat of banning. Zabuza was impressed. Weighed down by 7,5 kilos he had still managed to do his task. Even in less than the anticipated time. 'Clearly an heavy addict.' he thought amused.

5 Minutes later Sakura was ready with her task. As she hadn't had a time limit she had decided to take it slow. There was no use in over-exhausting herself. Because she assumed that Zabuza would order her to wear the weights day and night.

Zabuza clapped into his hands. "Alright. Time to grab ourselves a lunch. And no, Ramen are not a choice. You need some flesh. Steaks for example." he said. Narutos face fell. No Ramen for lunch. The sacrifices he made for training.

A while later the four of them sat in a restaurant with grill. They were waiting for their orders to arrive. Haku had ordered some fish, Zabuza had ordered a schnitzel. Naruto went for meatballs and Sakura had finally decided to eat a steak.

Suddenly Sakura spotted Ino. And Ino saw her. Leaving her team behind Ino came to the booth were Sakura and her team sat. "Hey, billboard brow." she greeted.

Sakura nodded. "Hey, Ino-pig." she began.

Ino grinned. "Where's my Sasuke-kun, forehead?" she asked and looked at Sakura. "And who are those two? Where is the perverted scarecrow?"

Sakura sighed. "Kakashi-Sensei is still in the land of Wave. He was heavily injured there. Those two are Haku and my new Sensei Momochi Zabuza." Sakura introduced her new team members. Zabuza nodded shortly and Haku gave a polite greeting.

Sakura steeled her resolve and looked Ino dead in the eye. "Ino, you will not like what I'm about to tell you." she began.

Ino nodded warily. "Begin. And I totally intend to hear why you imitate your Sensei with the hidden eye." she said.

Sakura gulped. "You know, we had this mission to the land of Wave." she began. Ino nodded. And Sakura told the story of how they had encountered missing Nins on their way, how they decided to continue until she reached the battle of the bridge. Inos eyes were wide.

Sakura continued. "This Gateau told his men that every head was worth money. One of the men decided to go after me and our client, while the rest fought against Naruto and the three others." she told Ino. The blonde nodded. "And what happened then?" she asked.

Sakura gulped again. "I was busy helping Sasuke, who had lost his fight with Haku when the lone bandit came. He tried to kill me, but Sasuke intercepted the blow aimed for my life." she told her blonde friend.

Ino didn't like one bit where this was headed. "What happened next?" she asked, not sure if she wanted to know or better not. But it was to late. She had asked.

Sakura sighed. "I killed the man, but he managed to injure me while dying. I lost an eye." she answered.

Ino was not sure if she should be enraged or sympathetic. She settled fur curiosity. "What happened next?" she wanted to know.

Naruto began telling. "We heard a yell from Sakura-chan. Kakashi-Sensei and me were distracted so we got injured too. I lost an eye and Kakashi-Sensei was stabbed with a sword. Zabuza managed to kill Gateau, he cleaved him in half. Then the villagers of Nami no Kuni arrived. They scared away the last bandits." he told Ino. The blonde girl nodded.

"What happened then?" she wanted to know. Curiosity might kill the cat but she wanted to know, consequences be damned. Sakura and Naruto were here, but Sasuke not. She held hope that Sasuke was only injured and still in Nami no Kuni, but deep down she knew what had happened. Sakura sighed and continued. "A doctor came. He examined Sasuke and told us that only Kami could help him." she told Ino.

Inos face fell. For a moment she had had hope. But this hope was lost again. "He died." she said, looking at Sakura. The pink-haired girl only nodded.

"He knew he was dying and he gave us a parting gift. A gift for his friends. He said, he had noticed too late that he even had friends." Sakura continued.

Ino was right now unsure if she should hate Sakura or feel with her. The boy she had a crush on had died protecting her best friend. In the end she settled for pity. "So he is dead and Naruto and you have each a eye from Sasuke-kun." she summed up. Sakura nodded weakly. Ino continued. "And now? Can we be friends again, now that we are no longer rivals for Sasuke-kun?" she wanted to know. She had always seen Sakura as a friend. Even when they had been rivals.

Sakura nodded happily. "Of course, Ino-pig." she said grinning.

"Billboard brow, don't annoy me or you will regret it." Ino retorted playfully.

"You can't hit me when I stand perfectly still." Sakura gave back.

"Troublesome women." Shikamaru yawned.

Zabuza nodded. "Wise words." he said chuckling.

Asuma Sarutobi and Choji came to the booth of team 7. Asuma looked at Zabuza. "Long time no see, Demon of the Bloody Mist." Asuma greeted the other man.

"Indeed, Asuma of the 12 guards." Zabuza retorted.

Asuma nodded. "You have joined Konoha?" he asked.

Zabuza nodded. "Yes. I have promised the Copy Cat to train his team while he is recovering. And in order to do so, I had to join Konoha. Training them without returning them to Konoha would have caused more problems than I appreciate." Zabuza answered.

Asuma nodded. "What happened to Kisame, Raiga and the other Swordsmen after your failed coup d'état?" he wanted to know.

Zabuza shrugged. "Raiga vanished from the face of earth. No one has seen him for years. And Kisame got company in form of some Nukenins. S-ranked company." Zabuza told Asuma. "What happened to the 4 others I don't know. Last thing I heard was that three of them had fallen victim to Kiri Hunter Nins." he continued.

Asuma nodded at this. "It should be a honor for you to hear, that Kiri upped you to an S-ranked Nukenin. Somehow Kiri heard of your fights against Kakashi and they seemingly assumed that someone holding his own against Kakashi is not an A-ranked Nin any longer." he said.

Zabuza grinned. "Quite an honor." he said sarcastically.

Now the waitress came and brought the ordered meals. Team Ten returned to its booth and they waited for their meals. Meanwhile Team 7 ate their meals. Zabuza looked at the kids. "We will do some missions today." he announced. All three Genin nodded. "Naruto, you will use your Kage Bunshin for doing some of the missions." he continued. Naruto nodded at this. Zabuza grinned. "Okay. You have half an hour free time, meet me at the bridge in 30 Minutes." Zabuza ordered. His team nodded and Zabuza left.

Naruto left one second after him. He wanted to eat some Ramen. Meat balls were good, but nothing in comparison to the Food of the Gods, Ramen. He ran into Ichirakus and yelled. "4 Meat Ramen with Miso taste!"

Teuchi grinned at his best and favorite customer. "4 Miso coming up." he said. Ayame smiled at the boy. He was like a little brother to her and it was good to see that he felt better.

Naruto grinned a bit. "I have to hurry. Our new Sensei is a slave driver from hell." he began.

Teuchi grinned. "It can't be that bad?" he asked.

Naruto shook his head. "He made me do a training exercise and said if I didn't do it in an hour he would forbid me eating Ramen for a week!" Naruto told the 2 persons behind the counter.

Ayame looked at him. "We would loose business!" she joked.

Naruto paled at the thought of a bankrupt Ichirakus. "This shall never happen!" he swore to himself.

Teuchi laughed a bit. "Well, then it is for the best if you continue to give your best so we don't go out of business." he joked.

Naruto nodded. "You going out of business shall never happen." he vowed. Ichirakus closing was one of his worst nightmares of all, after all. They were kind to him. And he liked both father and daughter.

Haku had meanwhile went to a training ground and was busy training one-handed seals. His goal was to be able to create every Jutsu he knew with one-handed seals.

Sakura had sat herself next to Ino. "So, Ino-pig. What will be our next competition?" she wanted to know.

The blonde shrugged. "Maybe who is stronger?" she suggested.

Shikamaru and Choji were right now looking at each other. If Ino wanted to become stronger that meant she had to do training. Choji enjoyed his meals and Shikamaru would rather watch the clouds than train hard. 'This becomes way too troublesome!' they both thought.

Asuma grinned a bit as he heard this. Maybe this would motivate Shikamaru and Choji to train more.

Sakura nodded at Inos words. "Yes. We will find out who is stronger. But be warned. My new Sensei isn't nicknamed a Demon for nothing." she warned Ino.

The blonde nodded. "Why is he called 'The Demon of the Bloody Mist' anyway?" she wanted to know. She looked at her Sensei, as Asuma seemed to know something.

Asuma sighed. "Zabuza Momochi, called the Demon of the Bloody Mist and Master of Silent Killing. He was the second in command of the 7 Swordsmen of the Hidden Mist and one of the best ANBU in Kirigakure." he began. Team 10 was listening intently now.

Asuma continued. "He earned his nickname because he killed the entire graduating class of the Ninja Academy of Kirigakure at the age of nine. Back then a part of the graduation was to survive a free for all battle between all graduating students. Friends against friends. This is why Kirigakure was then known as Chigiri, the Bloody Mist. Zabuza was annoyed that he wasn't allowed to enter the academy, so he got himself a sword and slaughtered the entire graduating class of this year. After this occurrence the Genin Exam of Kiri was changed because they couldn't afford to lose another 100 Shinobi hopefuls." the tale of Asuma continued.

"Later he advanced through the ranks pretty fast and was made ANBU and entered the 7 Swordsmen at the age of 16. He was the youngest person ever being accepted by the Swordsmen. He is called the Master of Silent Killing because he uses Kirigakure no Jutsu to hide himself in a fog and then kill the victim before it even realizes it is dead. And he doesn't make a sound while doing so." Asuma finished.

Inos eyes were wide. "And you are trained by him?" she asked her best friend.

Sakura nodded. "He will train me hard. He promised that." she said.

Ino looked at her Sensei. "I want to take whatever training you can give me! And I want that Choji and Shikamaru train too!" she said with a firm voice.

Sakura grinned a bit. She would have fun with challenging Ino. And she would give her best to beat her. And if hell was against her, she wouldn't lose to Ino!

Ino thought along the same lines. 'And if heaven went against me, I will not lose to Sakura!' she vowed to herself.

"This whole ordeal is way too troublesome. I envy the clouds, they are free and have nothing to do." Shikamaru said clearly unenthusiastic.

Sakura grinned. "Is he always like this?" she wanted to know from Ino.

The blonde only nodded. "It usually takes quite some nagging to get him to do anything resembling training." she told Sakura.

The pink-haired girl grinned weakly. "Good luck with getting Shikamaru to do some training." she said.

Ino nodded. "I will definitely need this." she confirmed.

As she looked at Shikamaru her face fell. The cloud gazer was napping. Ino turned to her friend and both nodded.

"Sakura & Ino Hijutsu: Double Yell of the Banshee!" they both whispered and positioned themselves at the left and right of Shikamarus head. Then they took a deep breath. "SHIKAMARU! GET YOUR LAZY ASS UP!!" they both yelled at the top of their lungs.

Shikamaru jumped almost out of his skin. "Jeez, you are way too troublesome. And I'm awake, no thanks to you both." he said grumpily. "You could wake the dead with such an annoying voice." he continued. This earned him a double smack on the head from Ino and Sakura respectively. "Troublesome." was Shikamarus only comment.

Sakura looked at her watch. "I have to go to meet my team. Until we meet again to compare our strength." she said to Ino.

"I will never lose to you, billboard-brow!" Ino answered.

"You will never win against me, Ino-pig!" Sakura retorted. Both Kunoichi glared at each other.

Then Sakura turned to the three males. "Goodbye." she said and then she left the restaurant. Motivated to the toes to show Ino who was stronger. "I will win against her! CHA!" Inner Sakura yelled.

Zabuza was already standing at the bridge. "Alright." he said as Naruto arrived as last of the three. "We will now do a mission. Maybe more. Let's see what the Hokage has for us." Zabuza continued. His team nodded and the 4 headed to the Hokage Tower.

At the tower they entered. One of the guarding Chunin glared hateful at Naruto. 'Damned Demon. And now he has even company.' he thought. If the Sandaime had seen reason this abomination would have been killed almost 13 years ago but he had declared the boy a hero. Hero the mans ass. The boy was the reincarnation of the beast that crushed his parents. This was only Kyuubi playing a human. But the Chunin did nothing more than glare. He knew that Zabuza could kill him with ease. And he cherished his life. So he stuck to glaring at the boy.

Naruto and his team noticed the glare. Zabuza appeared behind the man, startling him. "May I know why you hate my subordinate so much?" he wanted to know.

The Chunin sweated. "I hate him. My reasons are my own." he said showing more confidence than he felt.

Zabuza grinned under his bandages. "You should better not hate the boy for something he had no control over. Or you will know from first hand experience what angering the Demon of the Bloody Mist brings you. Nothing but trouble." Zabuza threatened. The man nodded weakly.

Zabuza returned to his team and they entered the tower.

The Hokage smiled a bit. He had followed the whole exchange and was glad that Zabuza seemed to show some gruff caring. Right now he looked at the assembled team. Zabuza stepped before his team. "Team 7 reporting to request a mission." he said.

The Hokage nodded. "Well, you can" he began, shuffling through the papers "catch Tora, the cat of the Fire Daimyos wife. He escaped. Again. This is a High D-rank, we have reports stating that, I quote, 'This damned furball can outrun a Chunin and pull off a damned Kawarimi!' quote ends." the old Hokage said.

Zabuza had to laugh. "I don't think that a cat can be this tricky to catch. I mean, Kawarimi. Honestly, did they drink too much?" Zabuza wanted to know.

Sarutobi shook his head. "I chased the cats ancestor. The Sannin changed another ancestor of the cat. And Orochimaru once swore to me that he saw the cat pulling of a Kawarimi. His student Anko summoned Snakes to help her chasing the cats father. You see, if this continues we will have to upgrade chasing a cat to a C-rank." the old Hokage said clearly amused.

Zabuza nodded. "All right, we chase him. Give us a picture of the target." he said.

The Hokage nodded and handed Zabuza a picture. "Most Jonin keep it. After all, almost every Genin cell chases Tora at least once a week." the Hokage said with very much amusement in his voice.

Zabuza took the picture and looked at it. "Time to chase a cat." he told his team. Then they left and the old Hokage laughed a bit, remembering how many times he had chased the cats ancestor. And Tora was young. Maybe he would become worthy of a C-rank with time. The Hokage would never forget how Anko had chased the cats father through the entire town while riding a 20 meters long python.

Meanwhile in the forest. Naruto had created an army of shadow clones. "Search the target." he told them. Zabuza had decided to only help when asked for help. If not they should handle this on their own. There couldn't always be someone there to tell them what to do or not to do. Learning to think for yourself was important. And he intended to let his team learn exactly this.

After 5 minutes the clones had found the cat. Naruto growled a bit. "This damned cat. He managed to dispel one of my clones by tripping him." he said. Sakura, Haku and Zabuza sweatdropped. 'This might be funny as hell.' Zabuza thought and grinned broadly.

Naruto, Sakura and Haku were busy discussing. Finally Narutos plan was deemed the best. An army of Shadow clones should surround the cat and trap it. Haku would then grab it. Haku and Sakura nodded.

Some minutes later the army had surrounded the cat. Haku created an Ice Mirror and stepped through it behind the cat. But somehow Tora knew he was in danger of being captured. He raced off and only a twig remained where he had been previously. Zabuza who was watching this from a tree branch almost fell from the branch, laughing. To an untrained eye it looked like a Kawarimi. But the cat was just fast. But he would sure as hell write into the report that the cat was talented at escaping.

The clones were busy shouting. "Got it!" and then "Damned, he escaped." over and over. Zabuza was howling with laughter. Yes, catching this cat was a never ending source of amusement.

Sakura sprang into action and brought out some catnip. This was her back-up plan, incase the 'trap with an army plan' didn't work.

And it worked. Tora came and she scooped him in her arms. "Target" she began, as Tora noticed her Hitai-ate. In an instant he was gone. "escaped again." She said. The clones were following the cat through the forest, Team 7 behind them and then Zabuza, who was not at full speed. The cat was just to funny.

Half an hour later they finally had found the cat again. Now it was busy fighting off one of the Inuzuka dogs. An old, strong bulldog. Well, fighting was the wrong word. Chasing the dog around was much more accurate.

Zabuza laughed again. "Haven't seen such a thing for quite some time." he said grinning. His team looked at him questioningly. "Well." he began. "When I was young, I had a tomcat. It was a big one. At least double Toras weight and strength. And he was the unquestioned ruler of his territory. Someday a neighbor bought himself a mastiff. A dog as big as an older calf. And it was quite an aggressive one too. However, the dog tried to cross my tomcat. And my tomcat showed him who was the Boss. He scratched the dogs nose and the mastiff was running, tail between his legs. And my tomcat chased him for good measure. The mastiff bothered him never again." Zabuza told the Genins.

Naruto was slack-jawed. "Cats can beat dogs?" he wanted to know. Zabuza nodded.

He then laughed to himself and remembered how Kisame hated cats. 'I swear, these damned bitches think I'm walking Sushi.' Kisame had said once. 'The Good Old Days.' Zabuza thought dryly amused.

Then he looked at the Genin. "One of you brings the dog back to wherever he belongs. Naruto, this is your job. Use some clones if he doesn't follow you willingly. Haku and Sakura catch the cat." Zabuza ordered. The Genin nodded and ran after the cat and the dog.

Some minutes later they had finally caught the two. Tora had managed to chase the dog up a tree. Zabuza was howling with laughter. It was a picture worth taken. Tora sat under the tree and looked at the dog on one of the branches. "This cat shows promise." he said. "Maybe it will be a C-rank to catch it in some years." he continued.

Team 7 's eyes widened at this. "You mean the Chunin will then have to chase the cat?" Zabuza nodded at Narutos question.

Sakura had meanwhile sneaked behind Tora and wanted to catch him, but somehow the cat noticed this and was off. Again. Zabuza laughed. "Well, I think I will step in. Call it a training session. We are going hunting in the fog." he said. Haku and Sakura nodded. They were a bit frustrated that the cat always escaped.

Naruto had meanwhile got the dog out of the tree and was walking him back to the Inuzuka compound. "Stupid cat, stupid dog, stupid D-ranks." he muttered under his breath.

As he reached the compound a young Inuzuka woman in Chunin uniform and with brown hair came to him. "You have found him. Thank you." she said.

Naruto nodded. "Stupid dog was losing against the damned cat. The damned tomcat even chased him into a tree." he told the woman.

Said woman laughed a bit. "Nothing new. He always challenges Tora head on and without thinking. And after one swipe his courage is gone." she told Naruto.

Naruto stared at the woman. "That dog loses regularly?" he wanted to know.

The woman nodded. "Yep. You would think after the 10th loss in a row he would learn, but he doesn't." the woman told Naruto.

Naruto smirked a bit. "Like me and Sasuke used to behave." he said. The woman raised an eyebrow. "I would always challenge him to see who was better. But now I can't measure myself against him any more." he said, sounding a bit defeated at the end.

The woman patted his back. "Well, I heard that the boy who arrived together with Zabuza seems to be at Chunin, maybe Tokubetsu Jonin niveau. You can measure yourself against him." she suggested.

Naruto nodded. "But Sasuke was almost like a brother for me. We challenged each other. Haku is far more peaceful than Sasuke. And frankly, when I saw him first I thought he was a very pretty girl." Naruto answered.

The woman grinned. "I think you will find someone to measure yourself against." she said.

Naruto nodded slowly. "I think so." he agreed.

"Well, thank you for bringing our dog back." she said and gave Naruto a small peck on the cheek. A sign of gratitude. "By the way, I'm Hana, Kibas Sister." Hana introduced herself.

"Uzumaki Naruto." Naruto answered. Then he took off, searching for his team.

In another part of the wood Zabuza explained Sakura and Haku the Art of hunting in the Mist. "You must use the Chakra in the mist to feel disturbances. Then you can feel where someone is. You can also feel if the person is fighting against the mist. Because then you feel blind spots, where the mist is forcefully driven away. And something else. Futon Jutsu disperse Mist pretty quickly. So the Kirigakure no Jutsu is useless against a Wind user." Zabuza explained. Haku and Sakura nodded. "Kirigakure no Jutsu." Zabuza said and mist rolled into the wood.

Sakura voiced a question. "Why can't we feel you in the mist?" she wanted to know.

"The mist is laced with my Chakra, masking me almost completely. You would need Chakra tracking abilities, which allow you to feel the amount of Chakra an enemy has, to find me. And you need an almost insane amount of Chakra control. The Slug Sannin Tsunade could maybe find me. She has such high and precise Chakra control." Zabuza explained.

Sakura nodded. "I understand." she said.

Haku and she concentrated after those words. And quite soon they found the cat. He was sitting under a tree. And doing nothing.

Haku looked at Sakura. "You have sensed him, too." he stated. At Sakuras nod he continued. "You will go first after the target, I will follow you, just as a fail-safe." he continued. Sakura nodded again and sneaked closer the cat.

Slowly she made her way over to the cat.

And then she saw it. Sitting there and watching into the fog.

Ever so slowly she crept behind the cat.

And then she jumped, managed to scoop the cat securely into her arms and lock it there. The cat struggled but Sakura wouldn't let it go. "Target captured." she called out.

Haku and Zabuza made their way over to Sakura and nodded. "Well done. Maybe I can teach you the Jutsu sometimes, Sakura. You seem to have the necessary qualities for a tracker in the fog." Zabuza told the girl.

Sakura beamed with pride. Having such a Jutsu at her disposal should ensure her victory over Ino.

Naruto came to his team. And all three noted that he seemed to be a bit distracted with something.

Zabuza decided to tease him a bit. "What happened, gaki? Got sidetracked by a beautiful girl?" he asked.

Naruto turned red, sputtered denials, while gently caressing his cheek.

"Naruto, what happened then?" Sakura asked genuinely interested.

Naruto sighed dreamily. "She kissed me." he said before he held his hands before his mouth.

Zabuza, Haku and Sakura stared at him with hanging jaws. "He got kissed." Sakura could finally say. She was jealous and curious. Because from the way Naruto acted he was right now nursing a major crush.

Naruto was red like a tomato. It was embarrassing like nothing. He hadn't meant to tell them about the beautiful young woman that kissed him. That should have stayed secret. But no, he had to tell. Naruto pondered if he should create a Kage Bunshin that should kick him some times so he learnt to shut up when needed.

Finally Haku spoke again. "Why did you get kissed, Naruto-kun?" he wanted to know,

Naruto grinned a bit and looked at his team. "Well, after I brought back the stupid dog one of the Inuzukas greeted me. She took the dog from me. We talked a bit, and as I was about to leave she kissed me on the cheek for returning the dog." he blurted out. And still he had a dreamy look in the eyes. Sakura-chan was nothing in comparison to Hana-chan. Naruto sighed dreamily again.

The three other team members looked at each other. "Major crush." Zabuza finally stated. The others only nodded.

Zabuza grinned like a madman. This would mean some major teasing for the blonde. Well, almost every boy had sooner or later a crush on an older woman. But for it to happen this early, this should become clearly interesting. But then something dawned on Zabuza. Such a crush mostly ended rather hurting for the person in love. And Zabuza was really not a person you could talk to in times of emotional distress. 'Copy Cat, you better hurry with getting well again, or I'm seriously gonna hurt you.' Zabuza thought.

Then he went to Sakura and picked up the cat. "Come here, boy. Let's bring you home." he told the tomcat and petted him. The cat purred contently. Zabuza turned to his team. "Let's head back. Our mission is complete." he said and turned to leave. The three Genin followed suit. Zabuza continued petting Tora.

As they reached the mission center, Zabuza handed Tora over to the Daimyos wife. She gave the money and hugged her poor tomcat to death. Zabuza sweatdropped. 'No wonder he runs like hell.' he thought. Then he turned to the Hokage. "You might sometime soon have to upgrade chasing this Cat to a C-Rank. I had to use the initial training for the silent killing to allow my team to catch the cat." he explained.

The aged Hokage lost his pipe. "The initial training?" he asked.

Zabuza nodded. "Indeed. I used Kirigakure no Jutsu to conceal Sakura and Haku. Naruto was busy otherwise." Zabuza told the Hokage.

Sarutobi was quite surprised. "Did the cat manage to escape this often?" he wanted to know.

Zabuza nodded. "It managed to dispel a Kage Bunshin of Naruto. It managed to flee from Haku, Sakura, an army of Naruto clones and more things. Well, I think this speaks of talent." Zabuza concluded.

Sarutobi nodded. "Indeed. I will watch future reports about Tora." he said and smiled.

Team 7 got their money and left the tower. Zabuza looked at his team. "Alright. We grab ourselves something to eat and then I teach you the Kirigakure no Jutsu." he ordered. The Genin nodded and they left to the BBQ restaurant.

Naruto was broken out of his dreams about Hana when he heard the words "Teach" and "Jutsu" as there where only few things he liked more than learning new techniques. Hana was not yet a part of these things.

After dinner they stood on the training field. "As it is quite late, I will only explain the Jutsu to you. It is one of the basic Jutsus of Kiri and known in almost all countries. There are some Jutsus who work after a similar principle. Known to me is the Yukigakure no Jutsu, the Hidden Snow technique. It works similar to Kirigakure no Jutsu." Zabuza told the three.

All Genin were listening. Haku was interested in the Yukigakure no Jutsu. It seemed like something that should go well with his Kekkei Genkai.

Zabuza continued. "The Jutsu is quite easy. You infuse some of your Chakra into a nearby water source and then let the Chakra lift up the water. Yukigakure works similar, only that you use snow there. And it's a bit more difficult because controlling snow is more difficult than controlling water." Zabuza explained.

All Genin nodded. "Ano, Sensei." Sakura began. At Zabuzas nod she continued. "Can we test it out?" she asked.

Zabuza nodded. "Okay, try it." he said.

Sakura stepped to the river, let a part of her Chakra into the river and willed it up. A small cloud was her reward.

Zabuza was satisfied. "Almost flawless. Your Chakra control is near perfect." he praised Sakura.

The praised girl beamed with pride.

Haku made the necessary one-handed seal and a area of around 10 meters was covered in mist.

Zabuza nodded pleased. "Well done." he said.

Then it was Narutos turn. The boy stepped to the river, poured Chakra into the water like there was no tomorrow and willed the Chakra up.

Zabuza wanted to intervene but it was too late. The fog expanded further and further. Until it finally stopped.

Zabuza chuckled. "Gaki, you made Konohagakure into Kirigakure." was all he said.

Naruto and the others looked dumbfounded. "What?" they all three finally said.

Zabuza grinned. "The mist covers the entire town." he stated.

Naruto danced around after hearing this. "I'm awesome!" he yelled.

Zabuza nodded. "And you have the most crappy Chakra control I have ever encountered. And I knew Kisame when he was young. But even he wouldn't be able to hide an entire town in a fog. You are full of surprises." Zabuza stated.

Naruto scratched his head in embarrassment. "Hehe, I didn't mean to." he said.

Zabuza nodded. "Well. The mist should disperse soon. I think that covers it for today. Tomorrow we will do training. I will teach you Water Walking. This should refine your Chakra control further. And Naruto, I will not teach you any of my heavy destructive Water Ninjutsu. If you would ever use the 'Suiton: Daibakufu no Jutsu' you would likely set half the town under water. Hell, the Bakufu no Jutsu would in your hands probably be as effective as the Daibakufu." Zabuza told the three. "Now, go home. We meet tomorrow at 0830 at the Memorial stone. Dismissed." Zabuza said and vanished in a swirl of water.

Sakura looked at the boys. "Okay. I will go home, too." she said.

Naruto was about top say goodbye, when he remembered something. "Sakura-chan. I have to show you something." he told her. "It is about our eyes." he continued.

Sakura turned around. "What is it?" she wanted to know.

Naruto looked at her. "Well. Our eyes allow us to see through any Genjutsu, meaning the most of them will not effect us and we might even be able to deflect one. Secondly do our eyes allow us to copy any Ninjutsus or remember any Taijutsu move we encounter. Being able to reproduce the move is another thing. Speed can counter the Sharingan. If we are not fast enough to keep up, we will not be able to see the move. And then there were some things I didn't understand, so my clones retrieved these scrolls." Naruto explained.

Sakura nodded. "Alright, I'm coming with you." she confirmed.

Naruto, Haku and Sakura then went to the blondes home.

Naruto opened his door. And Sakura almost fell down in shock. "This place is a dump! Naruto, you will immediately clean this place!" she ordered.

"But Sakura-chan, this will take hours!" Naruto complained.

"Then put your clones to good use. Then it will not take this long." Sakura answered.

Meanwhile in the Hokages bureau. Sarutobi had watched over his favorite blonde. And after hearing the pink-haired girls orders he began banging his head against the table. "Stupid Hokage, stupid Hokage, stupid Hokage." he said again and again. How often had he wished to have an additional pair of hands to help with the paperwork. And then he had them at his disposal all the time. Then an grin threatened to split his face. "Vile enemy of Kage business, I will defeat you once and for all." he swore to himself. From tomorrow on, Shadow clones would do the paperwork and he would busy himself reading the newest product of Jiraiyas research.

At Narutos apartment, Naruto looked at Sakura with wide eyes. Then he began banging his head against the nearest wall, muttering "Stupid Naruto, stupid Naruto, stupid Naruto." again and again.

Haku and Sakura sweatdropped.

After a while Naruto stopped. "I really should have thought about this sooner." he said while rubbing his head. Then he made the familiar cross-shaped seal and created 25 Shadow clones. "Clean this mess up." he ordered. "Ossu!" the clones said and began collecting the trash.

After 20 minutes the rooms were clean and the trash was outside.

Sakura looked at Naruto. "See, this is much better." she said. Naruto nodded affirmative. "Now what did you want to show me?" Sakura asked.

Naruto took out a scroll with the Uchiha symbol on it. Sakura opened it and began reading. "The Mangekyo Sharingan. And the true purpose of the Sharingan." Sakura read out loud.

After some silent reading she gasped. "This is horrible. The ultimate form of the Sharingan is awakened when you kill your best friend in an attempt to gain more power. This form of the Sharingan holds the ultimate Genjutsu, the ultimate Ninjutsu and an ultimate sealing technique. Well, there is no more information." Sakura stated.

Haku and Naruto were shocked. "You kill your friend for power?" both asked.

Sakura nodded. "It is the betrayal and the evil of committing such a crime that awakens the Mangekyo Sharingan." Sakura explained after some more reading.

Then she opened a second scroll Naruto handed her. "History of the Uchiha clan." she read out loud. Then she continued reading. "The founder of the clan, Madara Uchiha was said to be the one having summoned the strongest Biju to this world. The Sharingan allowed him to make a pact with the Kyuubi. It even allowed him to control the beast." Sakura stated.

Haku and Naruto where more than surprised. "This man had such power?" Naruto finally asked.

Sakura nodded. "Apparently he summoned the Kyuubi to help him fight the Shodaime Hokage. Rumors say that he is immortal." Sakura told the boys.

Both boys stared at her and were slack-jawed. "Immortal? No one can live forever. Not by normal means." Haku said finally.

Sakura shook her head. "There have been attempts at creating Jutsus to gain immortality. But this is impossible. Cells can regenerate themselves only for a set amount of time." Sakura explained. "So he just lives long. Or he has found a way to live through the times." Sakura continued. "However, we will never know, it's not like he will come to this town to search after us." Sakura joked in an attempt to light the mood.

The boys nodded. "Immortals only exist in Horror stories." Naruto finally said. Sakura nodded.

Then she saw something else in the scroll about the Mangekyo Sharingan. "The eyes cause blindness over the time. This blindness can be cured if you forcibly take another persons Mangekyo Sharingan." Sakura read aloud.

Haku was the first to speak. "These eyes are really cursed." he said.

Sakura and Naruto nodded.

After some minutes of silence Sakura spoke. "Well, I've got to go now." she said. She bowed to Haku. Naruto brought her to the door. There she turned around. "Good bye Naruto. See us tomorrow." she said and hugged him briefly.

"Bye, Sakura-chan." Naruto said and hugged her back.

Sakura nodded and left.

In the shady caverns of Otogakure, Kabuto, Misumi and Yoroi were kneeling before their master. "I have bad news, Orochimaru-sama." Kabuto began.

Orochimaru nodded. "What is it?" he wanted to know.

Kabuto gulped. What he was about to tell his master could very well mean his own death. But Orochimaru-sama had to know. "Uchiha Sasuke died." Kabuto said.

Orochimaru looked at his underling. "What?" he said dangerously low.

"Uchiha Sasuke died, protecting one of his teammates from harm. He intercepted a blow aimed for his female teammate. And this isn't the only bad news. According to what my research shows me, neither Haruno Sakura nor Uzumaki Naruto would survive the curse seal. In Narutos case it might even lead to Kyuubi breaking free." Kabuto told his master.

Orochimaru hissed angrily. "Damn it!" he growled. "This is a major setback in our plans." he continued. Kabuto only nodded. "If the Kyuubi were to break free again, Madara, or Tobi, as he calls himself nowadays, would be able to control the beast again. Well, it can't be helped. We have to kill some of the other Jinchuuriki. Maybe the host for the Yonbi is a good beginning. Send an team out, they shall search the old man and seal him away. Another team shall search Gobi. It was sealed not too long ago in Yuki no Kuni. Kill the vessel or seal it away." Orochimaru ordered.

Kabuto bowed. "Hai, Orochimaru-sama. We will do as you command." he said.

Orochimaru smirked. "Good. I will have to pay the Kazekage a last visit." he said. All Ninjas present knew what this meant. The leader of Suna was a dead man walking. "And sent someone out to retrieve cells or the whole corpse of Sasuke-kun. Maybe I can clone myself an Uchiha." Orochimaru ordered and vanished.

Kabuto stood up. "We will do as you command." he confirmed, even if Orochimaru couldn't hear him. Kabuto looked at his teammates. "I know where Sasuke-kun is buried. We will sent our team of Cannon Fodder there. They can retrieve the corpse. One of our Chunin teams heads to the Land of Snow to kill or seal away the resident Jinchuuriki. And we kill an old man." he ordered. Misumi and Yoroi nodded. Technically they were superior to Kabuto, but they both knew that Kabuto was the strongest of them. He was a Jonin in all but rank.

A while later three teams left Otogakure to do their missions. Missions that would greatly damage the plans of Akatsuki. Needless to say that all missions were a success. After all stealing a corpse, killing a baby and killing an old man does not require so much skill.

In Konoha the next weeks were dominated by training. Chakra control being the main part. Team 7 also learned to perform the Kirigakure no Jutsu quite well.

They also began the training of tracking in the mist. And here the progress was divergent. Sakura and Haku made big progress. Naruto was also a good tracker, but he couldn't stay still or be quiet enough to effectively use the mist to save his life. Zabuza had accepted this with the words "You are not the type for a silent assassination, you are a person that charges in and engages the enemy in close combat. Therefore you can use the mist to give yourself an advantage, but I doubt that you ever will be the type for a silent kill." Zabuza had told Naruto. And Naruto had accepted this. Silent killing was about patience and attention. Two things he was sorely lacking.

But on the bright side Zabuza had taken him to a weapon Shop and bought him a short sword. "This is for the first time. Later you can choose a weapon yourself. Just like Sakura, she will also get to choose a weapon that fits her tastes." Zabuza had told Naruto. And Naruto was extremely happy. A weapon of his choice.

Zabuza had made Naruto use the Kage Bunshin in masses for training Chakra control and swordmanship. The effects were showing themselves. Narutos skill with a sword grew. It was clear that it was not Narutos best weapon, but he could deal a good amount of damage with a sword.

And Zabuza had found out that Konohas resident sword master, Gekko Hayate was more than pleased to be able to spar with one of the Seven Swordsmen of the Mist.

-

End of chapter 2.

The next chapter contains the beginning of the Chunin Exams. At first I wanted to add some more scenes, but it would be useless. Writing more about the training would be pointless.

As for the "Chase Tora" mission, yes I overpowered the cat, because I thought this could be funny.

The match-ups for the Chunin exam prelims are as of now intended like this:

Sabaku no Gaara – Tsuchi Kin †

Sabaku no Kankuro – Yoroi Akado †

Sabaku no Temari – Haruno Sakura

Momochi Haku – Lee Rock

Hyuga Neji – Abumi Zaku (†)

Yamanaka Ino – Hyuga Hinata

Nara Shikamaru – Uzumaki Naruto

TenTen – Tsurugi Misumi (†)

Aburame Shino – Akimichi Choji

Kinuta Dosu – Inuzuka Kiba

Where I placed a † there will be a character death. In brackets means maybe. At first I thought of letting Gaara kill Neji or Rock Lee, but I might need them later. This cemented the death of Tsuchi Kin. The fights still may change. And whoever goes against Gaara is dead. No(!) matter who it is.

As for possible romances. Maybe Sakura x Naruto. But I keep options. Hana x Naruto could also happen, he has his schoolboy crush on her. But well, it's not likely. Please note that I don't understand how having a crush or something like this works. I'm way too cold to feel something like this.

Well, the nickname Team Demon will come in later chapters. Right now there is nothing that really qualifies them for this nickname.

Then, the weapons for Sakura and Naruto. I'm leaning towards a scythe for Sakura and a morning star for Naruto.

A little explanation for you, if you don't know what a morning star is. It is an iron ball with many spikes. It is usually attached to a chain. To use it you let it spin and then when its fast enough you send it after your enemy. You can also use it to keep enemies at range as nobody is insane enough to try and grab a rotating, around 10 kilos heavy, iron ball with sharp spikes. And if you intercept the chain it is likely that the ball hits you and this deals quite an amount of damage. This is the long range version. The spikes are up to ten centimeters.

The short range version consists of a varying number of smaller iron ball that are attached to a short staff with relatively short chains. Longest range maybe 50 centimeters. This is a short range weapon, usually used to bash in skulls or deal blunt damage to the body. The spikes increase the damage. The balls weigh around one kilo each. The spike are up to ten centimeters long. There are usually less spikes on the balls of this version.

The next story I update will be "Gaara and the Horned Reaper" After this I will focus on my German Fics for some time. Anyway, updates will come irregularly. I have no set schedule. The next update might come in a month. But I promise nothing.

Now, I give you a little Omake.

-

Gais New Eternal Rival

Zabuza was teaching his team. Well, grinding them to dust was more appropriate. He had created 50 something Mizu Bunshin and they were busy fighting against Narutos clones. Each Mizu Bunshin took on 4 or 5 Naruto clones. Sakura was also fighting a clone. And the real Zabuza sparred with Haku. On the river.

Suddenly a green blur came into the training ground.

"Dynamic entry!" a booming voice called out.

All 4 members of Team Seven stopped in their tracks. What they saw was a sight that should be banned. It was a man, with a bowl cut, unbelievable thick eyebrows, wearing a Jonin vest and orange leg warmers. But what was the most hideous item of clothing was the green spandex one-piece bodysuit.

"Hello, youthful friends!" the man greeted/yelled.

Zabuza managed to say "Hello."

"You must be the famed Momochi Zabuza! The man who took over the team of my Eternal Rival! Please allow me to introduce myself! I'm a man of wealth and taste. Konohas Noble Green Beast. Hatake Kakashis Eternal Rival. I am Maito Gai!" Gai shouted.

Zabuza was sweating now. This guy was more nuts than some persons he had encountered. Really, who in his right mind was wearing green spandex? "You are right, I'm the Demon of the Bloody Mist. Why are you here?" Zabuza managed to get out.

Gai made a nice guy pose with sparkling teeth. "As Kakashi trusted you with his youthful team, I accept you as my new Eternal Rival!" Gai shouted.

Zabuza groaned. Eternal Rival meant challenges for sure. And given the nature of this man they would be nothing short of insane. 'I'm so screwed.' was all he thought. "Do I get a say in the matter?" he deadpanned.

Tears streamed down Gais face. "You accepted! I'm truly happy. I challenge you!" the spandex-clad man said, teeth sparkling blindingly.

"Did you say something?" Zabuza said and turned back to his Genin. "Excuse me, but I have to torture, em train, my team." Zabuza continued.

"Curse you, my Eternal Rival! You and your hip ways! I will find a way to beat you. This I promise or I do 500 laps around the Hokage tower on my hands with a boulder on my feet. And if I can't do this I will run around Konoha 1000 times while wearing a pink Tutu!" Gai exclaimed.

"Good Luck!" Zabuza deadpanned.

And Gai was happy. He had a new eternal rival. "Train them well. So that their flames of youthfulness may burn brightly!" he yelled and vanished in a green blur.

Zabuza turned to his team. The three Genin were clinging to each other. "This is the reason why wearing spandex is forbidden in Kiri." he said.

"Ano, Sensei? Is spandex infectious?" Sakura asked finally.

Zabuza shook his head. "I don't think that there is a mini-me version of my Eternal Rival." he said reassuringly. "And if I ever catch you wearing spandex you will do 100 laps around Konoha with 200 Kilos on your back." he threatened. He better made sure that they didn't even think of wearing such atrocious clothing.

All three Genin nodded. "I don't want to become a mini-me of this man. Who would want to become someone like this man?" Naruto finally said.

In a clearing Rock Lee sneezed.

-

There you have it. Maybe it was fun. Maybe not.

Well, last but certainly not least. I thank Eisregen, Helloween, Ennio Morricone, Dimmu Borgir, Rammstein, Heimatærde, Darkthrone, Die Toten Hosen, Kreator, Laibach, Motörhead and Amon Amarth for inspiring music.


	3. Chapter 3

Sensei Zabuza

A Naruto Fanfiction

Disclaimer: See Chapter 1.

Authors notes: Chapter three. I said, I would focus on my German stories for now, but I got sidetracked. Again. So I decided to type a new chapter for you. Well, the Chunin exams are about to begin.

So, some notes to the reviews. A scythe is in my opinion a good weapon for silent killing. Hiding yourself in the mist and then beheading your enemy from behind. Scythe + Mist = The Silent Reaper from the Mist. A chainwhip sword is also a very nice thing, maybe I use it. And it reminds me of Ivy from Soul Calibur, a definite bonus.

Another question I address, is the question of romance. As it stands now, the story is "New Team 7 centric". Romance will be most likely a Naruto x Sakura. It might become a Naruto x Hana, but it is highly unlikely. Naruto has, as it is now, just a big crush on Hana. Because she is a quite hot female and she was nice to him, a treatment he gets rarely. So you can understand his crush.

Oh and if someone hates this story because of a pairing, I must say this is quite ridiculous in my opinion and I really don't care. And, the Pairings will happen when the characters are older. 12 year olds don't fall in love for the rest of their live. They usually hit puberty around this age or are living through it. And it will not be so that romance is the focus, because I can't write romance, I'm way to cynic and hateful to write believable romance. And I repeat myself. At 12 you don't fall in love for the rest of your life. And you are definitely not mature enough to become a parent anytime soon! Therefore I'm always annoyed when I read something like this in an otherwise good story. People, let the characters at least be 18 before making them parents. And no, pairings with older partners don't count. And I repeat another thing. No twelve-years-old is mature enough to be a parent. No matter how much some authors seem to wish exactly this. They weren't mature enough to be parents at this age, on this I bet my head. If they tell otherwise, they lie.

The way I understand it, I think Narutos crush on Sakura was more a call for attention. A wish to be acknowledged. Something Naruto gets rarely in the village. And not acknowledging or completely ignoring a person is even more cruel than beating a person. Because you leave the ignored person alone, don't acknowledge that the person exists. This is psychic torture. Imagine, wherever you go, no one even cares what you do. And if someone has to deal with you, he looks down on you, as if your existence was worthless. Quite cruel, wouldn't you say?

For the last time. HAKU IS A GUY! I hope everyone got it by now. I'm tired of reading the question if he is a boy again and again.

Next issue, no one seemed to have objections to the matches for the prelims. And I must admit, I was really itching to kill off Rock Lee and Maito Gai because they annoy me. Kakashi takes over as Nejis and TenTens Sensei after he is healed again. But Lee will at least survive the Prelims. But it is really tempting to kill them. Let me hear your opinions. Rock Lee and Gai die or only Lee dies or both live. I will see what is wished the most. But I can't promise to fulfill the wish.

Another thing. This story will contain some Units from the first 4 Command and Conquer games. Nothing too powerful like Kirov-Airships, Battle Cruiser, Juggernaut, Tiberian Sun Artillery, Dreadnought or Floating Disc. But some infantry Units and three tanks. The Units can be destroyed, damaged and can not be replaced. Repairing maybe. Oh, I don't own Command and Conquer. If I did Tiberian Sun wouldn't suck as much as it does and in Red Alert 2 Yuris Revenge you would have a Yuri Single Player campaign. Please vote for the Units. The Poll is in my Profile.

I was thinking about making this story a tie-in to "Gaara and the Horned Reaper" but then I realized that this would determine the fate of the story. Naruto becomes a heroic Dungeon Keeper, builds up an army of Heroes and fights a last battle against the Evil Dungeon Keeper Gaara. And loses. But I decided against it. "Gaara and the Horned Reaper" stands alone. It's better this way.

Omake "Tsunades last mission order"

Tsunade sat in her office. It was her last day as Hokage, tomorrow she would appoint the Rokudaime. But first she would enjoy a last laugh at the expense of her ANBU. They seemed to have gotten sloppy.

She called for her best Black OPS Team.

The three members appeared, each one had another mask, a hooded cloak made them almost unrecognizable.

Tsunade looked at the three. "I have a last mission for you." she said slowly. "It is an S-ranked retrieval mission." she added.

The Anbu in the middle, the smallest one, bounced with joy. "Of course we accept, Baachan!" he yelled.

Tsunade glared angrily at Naruto. Just because she was old, Naruto had no right to call her so.

Haku and Sakura just sighed. Some things about Naruto had never changed. He had stayed the midget of the group. Surprisingly enough it had been Sakura who had become the tallest. Secondly had Naruto never ceased to call Tsunade Baachan. And he was still sometimes quite loud and annoying. What often enough ended with him getting a knuckle sandwich courtesy of Sakura. And some other things hadn't changed either.

Naruto jumped to the table and grabbed the scroll, ducking under a thrown paperweight, courtesy of Tsunade.

He and his comrades left the room and Tsunade grinned. This served the little midget right. Soon enough every inhabitant of the elemental nations would hear Narutos scream. And Tsunade grinned. It were times like these when she really loved her job.

Outside the building Naruto opened the scroll and looked at the writings. Millimeter by Millimeter his eyes wandered to the grinning, one-eyed face of his Nemesis. He looked at the one enemy he had trouble beating. The one enemy who always came back, with new and even more evil tricks. The one almost no person in Konoha could hope to beat.

He looked at the face of Tora. The old tomcat a picture of smugness and lazy evilness.

Sakura and Haku covered their ears. And one second later Tsunades prediction became true.

"NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!" was heard throughout the world.

And in many places, many Ninja looked to Konoha and prayed for the poor soul that had let loose such a scream of endless despair. Even Orochimaru felt sorry for the poor tortured soul.

At the marketplace of Konoha a very unhappy Naruto followed his teammates to catch his worst enemy again. And he swore to himself to get back at Tsunade for this.

End

Hope you liked it.

Well, on we go with chapter three.

-

Chapter 3 "The Chunin Exams are there"

-

The morning in Konoha was peaceful. The sun shone through thick artificial mist. Suddenly there was a stream of curses heard. "Why can't I get it right!" a frustrated voice sounded through the mist.

A dark chuckling sounded through the mist. "Your Chakra control is still atrocious." a voice stated.

"I know. But what can I do, Sensei?" the frustrated voice asked.

"Well, you should try water walking. Make an army of clones and let them practice. And don't try to fry your brain. Again. One day you will kill yourself with your stupidity." the newly dubbed Sensei answered.

"I'm not that bad, Zabuza-Sensei!" the voice replied.

"Oh? How about the last 10 courses tree walking with 1000 clones, Naruto?" Zabuza asked. "Every time you almost fry your brain, most of your progress is blown out of the window."

"This was an accident." Naruto gave back and you could hear the pout.

"Whatever. You better stop pouring Chakra into the mist or you will keep the fog over Konoha all day." Zabuza said. "And the Hokage doesn't want to rename Konohagakure into Kirigakure anytime soon." he added.

Naruto grumbled something not understandable. And some minutes later the morning wind blew the mist away. Naruto sat at the usual training ground. He was glaring at his Sensei. And Zabuza only grinned. He had understood Narutos complainings. For Silent Killing you had to have a good hearing after all.

30 minutes later Sakura and Haku arrived. Zabuza grinned at them. "Today we will do a C-Rank. I heard through the grapevine that there were some quick C-Ranks available." Zabuza stated.

Naruto was immediately excited. "YES! No more cat chasing." he hollered with joy.

Team 7 went to the Hokage tower and Zabuza went to the mission desk. "This is Team 7 requesting a C-Ranked mission." he stated.

The Hokage grinned very wide. 3 rookie Teams in three days that requested a C-Rank. And he did the same he had done to Team 10 and Team 8. He handed them a scroll. "This is a Mid-C-Ranked capturing mission. Do you accept?" the elderly Hokage asked.

Naruto bounced around with joy. "Of course old man!" he yelled.

Zabuza took the scroll and smirked at the Hokage. He knew exactly what it was.

Team 7 left the tower and they looked into the scroll. There was a picture of Tora. And a list of his abilities.

Zabuza grinned and read the list out loud. "Target is a genius at evading. It can evade an army of Shadow Clones, it can detect hostile presences, navigate in areas with drastically reduced sight, is good at hearing enemies closing in, can pull off a Kawarimi no Jutsu, is resistant to Genjutsu and it can beat Inuzuka dogs in one on one spars. Approach with caution, target has no qualms about hurting people. The target is rumored to have outwitted a Nara."

Naruto became pale. Not again. This damned cat. "NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!" he yelled out loud.

-

In their respective teams meeting spots Ino and Kiba felt sudden sympathy for the poor tortured soul letting loose such a scream of despair. Because two and one days ago they had let loose exactly this scream.

-

Naruto looked at his Sensei. "This monster has been upped to a C-Rank. This is so unfair!" he told Zabuza.

The Demon of the Bloody Mist grinned under his bandages. "Call it bad luck in game." he stated.

Naruto pouted.

Team 7 left and went to search for the cat.

Naruto was the first to take action, he created an army of Shadow Clones that he sent searching for the cat. They should dispel once they found it.

20 minutes later the target had been found. It had, almost unsurprisingly, searched out its arch-rival and was busy decimating the dog. Again.

Narutos eyes lit up at the mention of the Inuzuka dog. Pictures of Hana came into his mind. He darted off. "We have to catch a cat!" he yelled.

Zabuza sighed. Naruto had a murderous crush on this Inuzuka girl. He even went out of his way to greet her, should he see her in town. And the bad thing, at least in his eyes, was that Hana seemed to like the little runt. But not the way Naruto liked her. He had even witnessed how Naruto had walked into a lamp post when he had seen Hana in town. Well, he had had a laugh at the boys expense and this was good for something too.

20 minutes later they reached the fight scene. And it was good for a laugh. The poor dog had been chased into a tree again. But it was a pine tree this time. The dog looked extremely uncomfortable up there. But whenever he tried to climb down, what looked ridiculous itself, Tora would scratch the dogs back legs and so it had to stay up there, trying to get comfortable on a scratching tree. And watching a dog trying to balance was a very amusing sight.

Sakura took action first. "Kirigakure no Jutsu." she said and mist began to fill in the area.

The dog was relieved and tried to climb down.

Suddenly a pained yowl sounded through the mist.

Zabuza began laughing. "This cat is a genius. It has begun to use the Kirigakure no Jutsu to its own advantage. I want to train it as Silent Killer!" he told his sweatdropping team. "I really like the little monster." he continued. "Maybe we can train it to become a Shinobi? I really have to ask the Fire Daimyos wife if I can keep it." Zabuza went on.

Team 7 made a collective face-fault. It was by now clear. Zabuza had been dropped on his head once too often as a child.

After picking themselves up from the ground Haku and Sakura vanished into the mist. Naruto followed shortly after them. He was giving Zabuza a last questioning glance. His Sensei was insane. No sane person could like a cat like Tora.

The hunt in the mist was silent. They crept forwards by centimeters. Closing in on Toras position under the pine tree.

It took them 20 minutes and they were behind Tora.

Sakuras hands shot out and she grabbed the cat.

But she only had a twig in her hands. Tora had used Kawarimi to escape.

Haku and Sakura gave chase and Naruto took the old dog from the tree. "Come with me, you thick-head." he ordered. And the old dog complied.

Naruto walked to the Inuzuka compound and he was lucky. Hana came out into the woods. She was out to retrieve the old bulldog again.

Hana looked at the dog. He limped a bit.

Naruto waved and greeted Hana. "Hello, Hana-chan! I have your dog. He lost again!" he told Hana.

Hana knew immediately what had happened. She turned to the dog and sighed. "You will never learn, will you?" she asked.

The dog just yipped in response.

Hana looked at the dog. "He looks worse after every encounter with Tora." she stated.

Naruto nodded. "Zabuza-Sensei says that the tomcat is a genius. His abilities are frightening. He even managed to use Kirigakure no Jutsu to his own advantage. And he had chased that old thick-headed bulldog into a pine before we even managed to get him." he told Hana.

Hana looked at the dog. "Usually I would treat your wounds, but it seems that your stupidity reaches new heights." she told the dog.

The scolded dog whimpered a bit. His mistress was unhappy with him. But she didn't understand. He had to take this cat down a few pegs. It walked around as if it owned the whole world. And it didn't follow orders. This was something that didn't sit well with the dog. He was thinking along the lines that you always had to follow the Alpha. But this cat acted Alpha but it accepted no one. It was a loner. And loners were suspicious to a pack-natured creature like the dog.

Naruto smiled slightly. "I doubt he will learn." he stated. "His thickheaded wish to win against Tora is the same thing I have. I want to win against the old man and make his hat mine. Then everyone will have to stop glaring at me. And I will then be the strongest Ninja of the village and I can protect everyone I care about." he said determined.

Hana smiled. It was the big dream of a boy with a hard life. Maybe he could succeed. She genuinely wished it for him. She had noticed the cold glares and the malevolent whispers that accompanied Naruto everywhere. She had seen him in town some times. It was really angering her. She considered him as an adopted little brother. And if there was one thing Inuzukas held high it was family.

Naruto looked at the dog. "Well, here he is. Back in all his scratched glory." he stated jokingly.

Hana grinned. "Thank you." she said. "You will one day accomplish your dream. Because you have a good heart. You are willing to protect others. Something a good Hokage does. The duty of the Hokage is to protect the village from harm. At any cost. Yondaime sacrificed his life to save the village. Shodaime and Nidaime did the same thing." she told Naruto.

Naruto nodded. "I have to go, my team needs my help, they upped Tora to a C-Ranked mission. The little monster uses Kawarimi, is resistant to Genjutsu, can use the Kirigakure no Jutsu to its advantage and this continues." he told Hana.

Hana smiled a bit. "Well then, good luck." she said and gave Naruto a peck on the cheek.

Naruto became bright red and grinned. Then he darted off.

Tsume Inuzuka, who had seen the encounter, went to her daughter. "It seems like you have an admirer." she told her blushing daughter.

Hana sputtered incoherent replies.

Tsume grinned and decided to go further. "You have my blessings. But I will not be baby-sitting any time soon. But you really should grab the little one for you. He is good for you. And you know what they say about foxes." she teased further.

Hana invented 5 new shades of red. "Mum!" she complained. "I don't like him this way." she stated.

Tsume grinned. "Not? What a shame. You would make such a great couple." she continued teasing.

Hana sighed. "You will not stop until I leave you sitting here with grandchildren." she stated in a flat deadpan voice.

Tsume grinned at her daughter. "They would be your responsibility. And now, go catch yourself a fox!" she told her.

Hana shook her head. "I don't feel like it." she said.

Tsume grinned. "Well. You can also accompany me to a walk through the town this afternoon. I want to see some of the Chunin hopefuls. And I want to check out if the Kazekage really sent his children. More precisely his youngest." she stated, sounding more and more serious after each sentence.

Hana was surprised. "Why this?" she asked.

Tsume looked at her daughter. "Kazekages youngest son is a cruel and heartless slaughterer. Last month he killed a team of Inuzukas. Only a dog returned and his sanity was broken beyond repair. It always whimpered 'Bloody monster of sand.' or 'Take the sand away.' It were only these two sentences and the name 'Gaara.' If this Gaara is really in the exams, you should warn Kiba and your boyfriend. Because they won't survive an encounter with the boy." Tsume stated dead serious. "I didn't give the dog in your care, because there was nothing that could have been done for him. I was forced to put him to sleep. Letting him live would have been cruelty. I'm quite sure that he had to watch his masters death without a chance to help." she added.

Hana gulped. If this Gaara was really in the exams they had to warn the Konoha teams. "I will follow you." she finally said to her mother. Worry for her adopted little and her little brother evident in her voice.

Naruto had meanwhile reached his team. He was almost floating, had a totally happy face and seemed to want to embrace the whole world.

"He got kissed. Again." Zabuza deadpanned as he saw Naruto coming to them.

The next thing surprised anyone. Naruto went to Tora, still smiling and radiating positive feelings that were so strong that they were maybe able to melt even Orochimarus or Madaras black hearts.

Naruto scooped Tora in his arms, bathing the cat in love and good will and general happiness. He even hugged and petted the cat. And Tora melted away. Resistance was futile. This much heartfelt love made him surrender.

Sakura, Haku and Zabuza stared at the odd duo. Naruto hugged the cat and looked at them. You could almost see that he wanted to hug everyone.

Zabuza sighed. "Mission accomplished." he said and his team gathered behind him and they left to the mission office building.

The Hokage looked at Naruto more than a bit surprised. The boy was practically floating with happiness. He gazed at Zabuza curiously.

The masked Jonin looked back at the Hokage and silently said "Hana kissed him."

Sarutobi understood immediately. He knew about Narutos massive crush on Hana.

Naruto handed Tora over the Fire Daimyos wife.

The woman paid and took her tomcat with her.

Team 7 received their payment and they left the building. "Okay. You are dismissed for the day." Zabuza announced.

Haku nodded and bowed to his teammates. "I will take my leave now." he said and vanished in a swirl of fog.

Naruto looked at Sakura. "How about going to eat something? I'm hungry." he stated.

Sakura nodded and they left too.

After some minutes a square rock with holes began to follow them.

Naruto saw the thing almost immediately. "This is the worst disguise ever!" he shouted at the rock. "A square rock with holes doesn't exist. And rocks don't move!" he added.

The rock was lifted and Konohamaru, Moegi and Udon came out of it. "You saw through his immediately, Boss. Just what I like in my eternal rival." Konohamaru stated. "And see, we wear the same goggles you always wore. You are our role-model after all!"

Moegi took over. "Do you play Ninja with us, Naruto-Nii-san?" she asked.

Naruto shook his head while Sakura looked at Naruto like he had grown a second head. "A Ninja playing Ninja?" she asked.

Moegi pouted. "But you promised, Nii-san!" she said and gave Naruto the puppy dog eyes.

"Sorry guys, I'm busy. I'm taking out Sakura for lunch. And after this I have to train." he said.

Konohamaru grinned. "That's great, Boss. Is she your?" he asked and stretched out his pinky.

Naruto nodded a bit.

Sakura was angered. This little boy annoyed her. "Don't make such rude gestures!" she said, hit him over the head and walked off.

Konohamaru whined. "Is this crazy hag really your girlfriend? Search for someone else than this pink-haired monster." he said, cradling the lumps on his head.

Sakura heard this. And as she turned round, the 4 Riders of the Apocalypse were standing behind her. "What did you say?" she asked with a voice that would send Uchiha Madara screaming for his mommy.

Naruto leaned to his little friend. "Run for your life." he said and shot off.

The Konohamaru Corps followed.

And behind them came Sakura, the 5th Rider of the Apocalypse. The air was crackling with evil intent and future violence. Hell was marching to conquer Heaven.

Konohamaru shot around a corner and ran into something soft.

"That hurt, you little runt." an annoyed voice stated.

The others rounded the corner and saw a guy wearing a black suit and a cat-eared hood. He had slightly menacing facepaint. He had a bundle wrapped in bandages on his back.

Behind him stood a Kunoichi with a battle dress that carried an iron battlefan around. Both looked down on Konohamaru with an annoyed glare.

The boy picked up Konohamaru by his scarf and smirked cruelly. "Like I said, this hurt, annoying runt." he said while lifting the little boy to his eye height.

Konohamaru struggled in the boys grasp.

The Kunoichi chose this moment to intervene. "Stop it. We will just get into trouble later." she said, not really caring about the boys welfare.

Sakura looked at the duo. "Sorry. It was my fault." she managed to get out.

Naruto was much more vocal. "Hey, fatso! Hands off him!" he yelled.

The boy looked at Naruto. 'This are the Genin of Konoha? Pathetic.' he thought. "Let's have some fun." he suggested cruelly amused.

Naruto charged.

And suddenly he tripped over something.

The boy had moved his fingers, but no one of the Konoha people could make out the meaning of this.

'What was this?' Naruto thought totally surprised.

The boy in black looked at them spiteful. "Ha! So weak. Really a shame." he said.

Sakura looked at them. 'They are not from here. But what would they want here?' she wondered by herself.

Naruto choose this moment to yell at the boy. "Hey! Fatso! Take your fat hands of him! Or you have to take on me! Idiot!" he yelled.

Sakura took him in a headlock from behind. "Idiot! Don't anger him further!" she hissed in Narutos ear.

The boy in black smirked. "You are annoying. I hate children. Especially short ones. And especially so annoying ones I want to kill." he said happily.

The Kunoichi sighed. "I have nothing to do with this." she said.

Naruto and Sakura were right now questioning the boys sanity.

The boy grinned. "After the impudent runt I will kill the annoying runt." he said while cocking back his fist to hit Konohamaru.

Naruto was already charging when a blunted Kunai hit the boys hand holding Konohamaru. The little boy fell from the boys grasp. And the boy in black held his hand. 'Damn it, that hurt. Who did this?' he thought.

Up in the tree stood Hana Inuzuka. "What are you doing here?" she asked clearly annoyed.

The boy in black glared murder at the young woman. "Another annoying person." he growled.

"Get lost." Hana commanded.

The boy growled and took the bundle from his back. "Come down here. I hate persons like you." he growled.

"You're not gonna use the Cyborg?" the Suna Kunoichi asked a bit fearful.

"Stop it, Kankuro." a cold voice commanded.

Everyone looked at the tree. A boy with red hair, a gourd on his back, a Tattoo on his forehead and black circles around his eyes stood on a tree branch. Upside down.

"You are an embarrassment to our village." he stated.

Kankuro almost wet his pants with fear. "G... G... Gaara!" he stuttered.

The Suna Kunoichi seemed fearful too. And the other Genin and academy students were surprised. Hana asked herself why she hadn't sensed him earlier.

"You know why we are here." Gaara stated coldly.

Kankuro tried to argue. "It is their fault." he said.

Gaara glared at him. "Shut up or I will kill you." he stated with a flat voice.

Both Suna Genin were busy apologizing to Gaara.

Hana looked at the boy and suddenly she got a scent from him. An overwhelming scent. The scent of death and blood. 'Clearly the leader. But one that will execute them without batting an eyelash.' she thought. 'He is definitely dangerous!' she added mentally.

"I beg your apologies for my useless teammates." Gaara said. Everyone knew that he didn't mean the apology part. Gaara vanished in a swirl of sand and reappeared between his siblings. "It seems that we are early." he said coldly. "But we are not here for fun." he added. "We leave." he ordered his siblings and turned to leave.

Sakura gathered all her courage. "Why are you here?" she asked. "If your intentions are directed against Konoha we will have to take you to the Anbu." she said, sounding much more brave than she felt.

Temari and Kankuro grinned at Sakura disdainfully. "How do they say, the darkest spot is under the lighthouse." Temari said. "We are here for the Chunin exams. Here are our passports." she stated, showing a passport to Sakura.

Gaara glared at his siblings. "We leave!" he ordered impatiently.

Hana intervened. "Who are you?" she asked.

"Me?" Kankuro asked.

"No, the redhead." Hana answered.

Gaara looked at her without a care in the world. "This doesn't matter to you weakling." he stated and vanished in a swirl of Sand.

Kankuro and Temari followed suit.

Hana looked at Sakura, Naruto and the Konohamaru Corps. "Be careful with the redhead. If he is, who I think he is, he is the most dangerous person in the exams. Don't pick a fight with him, he can kill Jonin. And I don't want you to die." she said to them.

Naruto was slack-jawed. This boy was this strong? Come to think of it, he had startled Hana. This meant he was dangerous.

Sakura bowed to Hana. "Thank you for helping us out, Hana-san." she said politely.

Konohamaru looked at Hana and then at Naruto. Seeing Narutos face he came to the conclusion. "Is she also your?" he asked and extended his pinky. "Are you building a Harem for your pleasures?" he wanted to know.

Hana was behind Konohamaru in an instant. "You better watch your tongue, boy. Even fools license has its borders." she said and grinned a very Anko-like grin. The 'I found a little plaything and that plaything is you' grin.

Konohamaru nodded hastily. "Understood." he said.

Hana grinned. "Good, little runt. Now play with Naruto-kun here and don't bump into people again." she said.

Konohamaru nodded again. "Will do. And I won't upset Sakura again. She could scare a demon in her wrath." he said and shuddered at the thought of the 5th Apocalyptic Rider Sakura. This was something he never wanted to experience again.

Hana nodded. "Well then, I'm off." she said and vanished in a swirl of leaves.

Sakura looked at Naruto. "I'm still hungry." she said.

Naruto came out of his stupor and nodded. "Alright, let's grab something to eat." he said enthusiastically.

The Konohamaru corps left together and Sakura followed Naruto to the BBQ stand.

In a tree near the encounter three Sound Nins had watched the entire scene. "The redhead from Suna is the only real threat. To be exact, he is more threatening than any other person in the exam. Be careful around him." the Ninja in the middle stated. His entire face was bandaged and only his left eye was free. The two others nodded and all three left to report to Orochimaru.

Meanwhile at the Inuzuka compound. Hana stood before her mother. "I'm quite sure that I encountered Gaara earlier. He is a boy around Narutos age. And he is here for the Chunin Exams. I already warned Naruto and Sakura, they will warn Haku and hopefully the others. If Kiba is nominated we must warn him about Gaara." she said.

Tsume nodded. "If he is nominated we will warn him. The best would be to set the bush telegraphy in motion. So the Konoha teams will be warned." she said thoughtfully.

Hana was relieved. If something happened to her little brother because she didn't tell him about an avoidable danger, she could never forgive herself this.

At the Hokage Tower a meeting was taking place. Assembled were a bunch of Jonin and Tokubetsu Jonin.

Sarutobi smiled. "I have summoned you here to tell you that Konoha will host the half-yearly Chunin Exams. At the 1st of July they will start." the aged Hokage told the assembled persons.

"This is not much time." Hayate Gekko stated.

The Hokage nodded. "However. I want to know, which teams who still operate with a Jonin Sensei are nominated. Rookies first." he stated.

Sarutobi Asuma raised his hand. "I, Sarutobi Asuma, nominate Team 10." he stated.

Yuuhi Kurenai raised her hand and said "I, Yuuhi Kurenai, nominate Team 8."

Momochi Zabuza grinned, raised his hand and stated "I nominate Team 7 as well."

Iruka looked at the three Jonin Senseis, Zabuza especially. "Is this really wise? They are fresh out of the academy." he said worried.

Zabuza grinned. "Oh, at least my team is ready. I have beaten fighting skills into Haku since he was 5. And Naruto managed to outsmart me and forced me to release Kakashi in my first fight against them. And I taught them some useful tricks. And Kenjutsu. They are ready. And if they encounter a too powerful enemy, well Hakus Kekkei Genkai has been beaten only once. By Naruto. And they have had their first kills." he stated.

Iruka sighed and knew arguing was useless. When the Jonin Sensei felt that his team was ready, then they usually were ready.

The Hokage nodded. "Now to the teams who have graduated the years before." he said and the next teams were nominated.

The next morning Team 7 was standing in their usual meeting spot. Zabuza arrived with a Kiri Shunshin. "Good morning. I have good news for you. I have nominated you for the Chunin Exams. And to celebrate this we will go shopping. Some clothes that won't stay out as much as your present clothes. Really, Naruto and Sakura, you are walking targets." he stated.

Both Genin were silent. Simply because Zabuza was right. Neon Orange and glaring red weren't really colors befitting a Ninja.

Zabuza handed the Genin the applications.

Naruto, Haku and Sakura took the three sheets of paper. "If you want to participate in the exams be at the Academy tomorrow morning. Turn them in at room 301." Zabuza explained the rules.

The Genin nodded. "Well then, we have some shopping to do." Zabuza stated and left. His Team followed him.

A while later they were in a clothing store. The owner looked at them. And at the sight of Naruto he hissed. "Get out here! I don't sell clothes to demons." he stated.

Naruto looked at his Sensei and grinned. "Ne, Zabuza-Sensei, seems like you are not welcome here, Demon of the Bloody Mist." he said cheekily.

Zabuza grinned at Naruto and nodded. Then he turned to the man and glared at him with an evil glare. "This is breaking of Sandaimes law. Your sentence is death." he stated, tossed the man out on the street and grinned at his team. "Today Team 7 gets 100 percent discount. Take everything you want." he said and left with the whimpering man in tow.

Naruto, Sakura and Haku searched through the entire store to find things they liked.

In the end Sakura chose some blue and snow camouflage clothes. And with a bit reluctance she also took a set of standard wood camouflage.

Naruto whooped with joy when he found camouflage clothes where the spots were brown, yellow, red and orange.

Haku and Sakura sweatdropped at seeing this piece of clothing. Even more when Naruto began to pack the clothing into a bag.

Sakura went to the boy. "Take some snow, blue, night and wood camouflage." she ordered.

Naruto nodded hastily. He didn't want to give up his orange camouflage. (I actually have seen orange and pink camouflage. Who the hell wears such clothing? – A.N.)

Suddenly Zabuza appeared in the store. "Slight change in plans. Pack everything, sort it out later, you can then sell the useless things." he told his staring Genin.

Almost an hour later an army of camouflaged Naruto clones marched out of the store. Each carrying a big rucksack. Somehow Naruto had gotten his hands at a radio and he and his army were now marching to the tune "Links, 2,3,4" by Rammstein.

Sakura and Haku looked after their teammate. It was a slightly intimidating sight. 500 Naruto clones, each uniformed in snow camouflage, with a steel helmet and combat boots with steel toes. But to both it was also a hilarious sight. Naruto was trying to show a grim face, like he thought a soldier was supposed to do. But his face was not meant for looking grim. So he was looking slightly hilarious. Multiply this with 500 and you get ridiculous.

After some minutes of wordless staring they went after him. Carrying the last things, things Naruto hadn't carried away. Haku had taken all the money from the shop. Nothing would remain there.

A while later Zabuza returned to his Team. The three had each chosen the wear for the Chunin exams. And Zabuza had a last hint. "Sakura, maybe you should cut your hair. Ninja fight dirty. If you come into a fight with an enemy, they will maybe grab your hair to hold you down. And then you are screwed." he told the girl. "Haku doesn't have this problem, he is fast enough to evade anyone trying to grab his hair." he added.

Sakura nodded. "Hai, Sensei." she confirmed and left, clad in snow camouflage.

The next morning Team 7 met. Naruto stared at Sakura. "Sakura-chan! What happened to your hair?" Naruto yelled at the sight of a short-haired Sakura.

Sakura waved in greeting. "Well, I decided to get my hair cut. I took Senseis words to heart. With long hair, I really am in danger of getting grabbed by the hair." she explained to Naruto.

"But you look like a boy!" Naruto objected.

Suddenly the air crackled with evil intent. This was not only the 5th Apocalyptic Rider Sakura, this was "Hell's Pissed Off Empress Sakura" evil.

Naruto looked at Sakura and he only saw his own gruesome death. And then a resurrection to be killed again. And again. And again.

-

Inside of Naruto, the Kyuubi felt the evil given off by Sakura. And the immortal being felt fear for its own immortality. It frantically searched for a way to save its own fur. Because it would rather go to heaven and kneel to Kami-sama than die because this little idiot managed to piss off the one girl that could generate such an evil aura and maybe even act on it. "I will not die because you are stupid, idiotic fleshbag!" it roared.

-

Naruto did the only thing he could do. He fell to his knees and prayed for forgiveness and mercy. He really hoped to survive. Sakura looked ready to skin him alive and then wear a costume made of his hide.

Sakura, upon seeing the kneeling Naruto, decided to be merciful. She simply bobbed him over the head with a mallet.

Naruto covered his head but remained silent. This one he had deserved after all. You simply don't call a girl looking boyish, when she in fact didn't.

After this episode, they headed into the academy.

When they came to Room 301, they were amazed to see a big group of Ninja, trying to get access to room 301. And they were pushed back by two Leaf Genin.

"You should really stay out of here. We took this exam several times. And we can tell you, that it is not an easy one. So you better go home. We don't want you to get hurt." one of the two said.

The other nodded. "Yes, quit already and leave this exam. It is healthier for you." he added.

Sakura looked around, something here was off.

Suddenly a girl in a pink Chinese dress tried to forcefully enter the room. But she was shoved back rather rough and fell to the floor. She stopped at Sakuras feet.

Sakura offered her a hand while murmuring to herself. "Something's off."

The girl took the hand. "Thank you." she said gratefully.

Suddenly a green-clad blur appeared and tried to enter. But he too was shoved back. Haku, Sakura and Naruto shivered when they saw the boy. He looked exactly like the Freak Maito Gai who had decided to become Zabuzas new eternal rival. Wearing spandex should really become forbidden. It was a sight that burned itself in the onlookers brain. And it caused immense pain.

Suddenly Sakura had the last piece of the puzzle. "It's a Genjutsu. We are only at the second floor." she exclaimed, happy that she had finally seen through it.

The two Genin watching the door were a bit amazed. This girl had apparently seen through their Genjutsu. They knew that the purpose of this Genjutsu was lost, when she lifted up her Hitai-ate to reveal a Sharingan eye. And so they dropped the Genjutsu. And everyone saw that they had tried to get access to room 201.

The Genin eyed her. Maybe they should attack her? But she seemed rather well-trained and it was likely that she didn't carry this sword for show. She was after all Momochi Zabuzas pupil.

Rock Lee looked at Sakura in awe. "You are beautiful. Please become my girlfriend. I will protect you with my life." Lee exclaimed at her.

Sakura looked horrified. "Not now or ever!" she exclaimed. "I'd rather kill myself." she added.

Lee looked down at the floor. The rejection stung. And he was sure that she would never change her opinion. "I understand." he said slowly. Then he turned around and left.

The girl Sakura had helped earlier looked at Sakura. She was a slightly menacing sight. Dressed fully in camouflage and with steel-toed boots, carrying a sword, she looked like an enemy. Not someone you should make your enemy early on. Still, she had to stand up to Lee. "This was harsh. It is not a wise choice to be harsh to others before the exam begins. They might be vengeful." she told Sakura.

Sakura nodded.

Just then the last member of Team 9 arrived. Hyuga Neji. He looked at the assembled persons, Team 7 were under his closest scrutiny. They seemed trained, but he had a whole year of experience on them. Fate was not with them. But the boy who came with Zabuza. Maybe he was a challenge. He would see if it was his fate to beat him or not. "We leave." he ordered TenTen and left.

TenTen gave Team 7 a last look before departing together with Neji.

Team 7 also made their way up the stairs. Before the room stood Zabuza. "Well, good that you showed up as a team. Only a team is allowed to partake. Now, good luck." he said.

Team 7 nodded and went into the room. And Zabuza left in a swirl of fog.

Inside the examining room, Team 7 saw many teams from different villages. Suna, Iwa, Kumo, Kiri, Konoha, Ame, Kusa, Taki and Oto. And all examinees glared at the newcomers.

Suddenly the door opened and Team 10 entered. "You are here too, forehead? And what happened to your looks? You look like a boy!" Ino exclaimed.

Sakura turned around and glared at Ino. "I thought this exam was only for strong people, how did you end up here, Ino-pig?" Sakura retorted. "And to your information. I won't be grabbed by the hair, but you will." she added, grinning evilly.

All males looked at each other. A catfight was in the air. And the really didn't want to become involved there. It would be too troublesome.

Just then Team 8 walked in. "You are here, too?" Kiba asked the rookie nine in general. Then he turned to Naruto. "Hands off my sister!" he commanded.

Naruto smirked. "And what will you do, if I don't obey you?" he asked.

"Why you!" Kiba roared.

Just then Sakura and Ino had went to a full-fledged catfight. "Take that back or else!" Ino shouted at Sakura.

"Keep it down, will you?" a new voice asked. The voice belonged to a silver-haired Genin with glasses.

All of the rookie nine stared at him. "Who are you?" Naruto finally asked.

The Genin smiled. "Well, I have to introduce myself. I'm Yakushi Kabuto. You could say, I'm a veteran in the exams." he introduced himself. "And you are making yourself enemies, if you don't keep it down. For example the guys from Ame. They have a short temper and tend to attack and they don't bother asking questions later."

The others looked at him incredulously. "How many times have you taken the exams to know this much about the exams?" Sakura asked.

Kabuto smiled sheepishly. "Well, this is my seventh time." he admitted.

Kiba grinned. "Wow, this means, you must suck." he said.

Kabuto smiled again. "These exams are harder than you might think. But my many tries at becoming Chunin have brought me something valuable. Ninja-Info-Cards." he told the Genin and showed them a deck of cards.

"What is on these cards?" Naruto asked.

Kabuto looked at him. "Information about any Ninja partaking in the exams for example." he told the rookies. "And as a sign of good will, I'm willing to share these information with you." he added.

Naruto immediately had the name. "Sabaku no Gaara from Suna." he wanted to know.

Kabuto looked at his deck. "It's good that you know the name, it makes searching easier." he commented.

Then he took out a card. "Sabaku no Gaara. Youngest son of the Kazekage. His team consists of his siblings and an Elite Jonin from Suna. Taijutsu is average, Genjutsu above average, Ninjutsu is his strongest field. He has completed. Whoa!!" Kabuto exclaimed and showed the card to the other Genin. "No D – Ranks, 20 C – Ranks, 10 B – Ranks, 6 A – Ranks and 4 S – Ranked missions. Rumors say he returned from every mission without a scratch on him." he finished slowly.

All Genin shivered. S – Ranked missions done without a scratch. This was truly terrifying. Ino was the first to speak. "We must not encounter him under any circumstances." she said slowly.

Shikamaru nodded. "If we encounter him..." he began, but Kiba interrupted him.

"...then we are dead. Mercy is not in his dictionary. If you see him, hope that he hasn't spotted you. Or you are dead. Mom told me some rumors. He is a slaughterer. His body count probably exceeds that of the average Jonin, maybe there are even Anbu who killed fewer persons. His body count is most likely over 2000. Anyway. Hope you are not near him." Kiba told his friends.

All of the rookies nodded. Even Kabuto nodded. All were intimidated. A Genin who was this strong participating in the exams meant that either Sand was very strong or that this particular Genin was near unbeatable. Both options made the teams feel uneasy. Because both options meant danger for them.

Naruto gulped. "Yes, we really should avoid seeking out a fight with the Sand Genin." he said. At first he had wanted to tell everyone in the room that he could take them on, but when there were persons this strong in the exam, this meant suicide.

Zabuza had beaten this lesson into him. A Ninja fights dirty. A Ninja uses every advantage he can get. And a Ninja has to know when to shut up. Because there might be persons who are stronger than you and who don't think much about it when they kill you for opening your mouth at an inappropriate time. His exact words were: "You have to know when to shut up. Because if you don't you might attract persons who like nothing more than breaking persons with great dreams. They hear you and then they fight you. And they leave you crippled for life. Often missing hands or legs. Conviction and persistence are nothing bad, but only at the appropriate time. At an inappropriate time they get you killed. You have to know when to retreat." he had said.

And Naruto had to accept it. There were persons out there, who could wipe the floor with him and who would laugh at him while destroying his dreams forever. He couldn't always win. It was harsh but so was reality. The will to prevail doesn't really help you. Sometimes it even makes things worse. For example if you fight on, while you have clearly lost. It only gets you killed. You can do so when you have no hope of coming out alive. But at any other time you had to retreat. Pride be damned.

Naruto looked at the room. Around 300 candidates. And many strong ones, this was sure. He would have to keep a low profile.

Suddenly there was a loud explosion and the examiners of the first part had appeared. It was a bunch of nondescript Chunin in grey clothes and a man in a black trenchcoat with a Bandana on his head and scars in his face. He wore black gloves too. And he glared at the Genin. "Alright you maggots! I'm the proctor for the first part of the Chunin exam. Everybody shut up or you are disqualified. Now go to your seats!" he bellowed.

Everyone obeyed without a word. The man intimidated the most and the rest just didn't care.

Naruto was seated next to Hinata in the middle of the room. Sakura was three rows before Naruto and Haku sat some rows behind Naruto.

Finally all Genin were seated and the man glared at them. "I'm Ibiki Morino. I will proctor the first part of the Chunin exam. You have to do a written test." he began.

Various shouts of "What?" were heard.

"Silence!" Ibiki roared. "Now as I was saying. It is a written tests. However, there are rules to this test." he stated. "First rule. When I'm done explaining, you can ask questions. After I'm done with the questions, you are not allowed to ask questions or say anything or you will be disqualified." he began.

After some groans from the auditory he continued. "Second. For this test, you will start with 10 points. If you are caught cheating, you will lose two points each time you are caught. Getting caught 5 times means that you and your team are expelled." Ibiki told them.

"Third. This test has ten questions. Each worth a point. 9 questions will be given on the test paper. The tenth will be given 15 minutes before the end of the test. For the whole test you have 1 hour." Ibiki continued.

"Fourth rule. You can pass this test only as a team. If one of your teammates gets 0 points you fail. Regardless of how many points the teammates have. And you need 30 points as a team to continue. Having less points means that you fail too." he explained.

Naruto turned pale while hearing the rules. A written test was the most horrible thing that could happen to him. Book smarts were his weakest field, he could accept this. But the whole test was about book smarts. He was one step from freaking out.

Ibiki gave some signs to the proctoring Chunin. They closed the windows and one turned up the heating. Ibiki smirked at this idea. Every three minutes the heating would be increased. Now it was on 3. Gradually it would turn up to 5. This would make them uncomfortable and easier to manipulate.

When he looked around he saw dozens of nervous stares. And one cold and uncaring glare. He looked at the Genin who looked at him unblinkingly.

Ibiki decided to test him and sent a bit of killing intent to the boy.

A wave of malevolent intent came back, much stronger than the one he had sent. And it was singularly focused on him. It was some kind of challenge. A challenge of wills. And Ibiki somehow knew that he would lose if push came to shove. The boy wasn't called "The Bloody Desert" for nothing. And Ibiki was impressed. This boy didn't even bat an eyelash at the psychological pressure they were inflicting. Chunin material from his point of view. A bit on the insane side, but who wasn't. Every Ninja had his or her little quirks. For example Kakashi. The man was clinically addicted to porn. Or Anko. She was just a bit on the nutty side. And she had some screws missing. The 7 Swordsmen of Kiri carried large cleavers, weighing over 100 pound each, around and wielded them like a Katana. The Sannin had no more needles one the fir. (It is a German saying. Having no more needles on the fir means that you are quite a bit insane and stupid.)

Naruto was meanwhile sweating bullets. He had taken a look at the questions. And had almost let loose a horrified scream. There was no way in hell for him to answer these questions. He couldn't even understand the meaning of some questions.

Sakura had taken one look at the paper and began thinking. 'This is an advanced trajectory equation. Quite difficult to solve.' she thought. Then she began writing.

Ibiki looked at the pink-haired girl. He was a bit impressed. Even most Chunin had problems with solving these equations. And yet this girl did them. She would be worth watching. She was possibly a great asset for either the medics or for the T&I squad. Because it were mostly very intelligent persons who were good at using Genjutsu or medical Jutsu.

Her blonde teammate however. He was backed into a corner. But Ibikis experience told him something. A person driven into a corner could be very dangerous or very dead. And you couldn't know until you made a move. It was a Schrödinger's Cat situation. But with a little coaxing into the right direction he could get results. If Ibiki was one thing, it was merciless. Because mercy for an enemy often ended with your back stabbed.

Others were also cheating their way through. The two Hyuugas used their Byakugan to spy on one of the planted Chunin. The Aburame used a wasp. The Inuzuka used his puppy. One team made him raise an eyebrow. The next Generation Ino – Shika – Cho Trio did exactly nothing. Choji was eating chips, Shikamaru napped and Ino polished her nails.

The Kazekages oldest daughter didn't do anything either. Nor were her brothers doing anything. Interesting. Whatever they were planning, it had to be big.

Meanwhile Naruto was reaching new heights in mental suffering. It was hot, the air was filled with sweat and then there were the random shouts. "187 out! Take your team with you!"

"22, 85, 4 out, take your teams with you!" A boy from Kusa who had been sitting next to Naruto got up and left.

Some caused a scene. An Iwa Genin protested about unfair treatment of Iwa in the Konoha exams. A proctor threw him out.

Sakura had finished all her questions and turned the paper around.

This was Hakus signal to start. He created a small ice mirror under the sheet and spied on all the answers. Then he transcribed them onto his paper.

The last part would be the most difficult. He had to give these answers to Naruto. Without Naruto screaming for joy. And getting them disqualified.

Finally he had an idea. He created another Ice Mirror, this one directly on Narutos paper.

Naruto was surprised when he saw the Mirror. But he knew that Haku used them, so he kept his mouth shut.

"I will give you the answers for the test!" Haku wrote on a piece of paper and held it before his counterpart of the mirror. "Write them down!" he commanded.

Naruto nodded and began writing the answers.

Hinata, who sat next to Naruto was relieved. Someone was helping Naruto. She wasn't done with writing down the answers she had gathered, yet, so she hadn't had the chance to let Naruto copy her answers.

Suddenly a Kunai whizzed between Naruto and Hinata. "123, out!" an angry Chunin commanded.

Gaara gathered now some sand in his hand to create an eye of Sand.

Ibiki saw this and decided to watch.

The sand dispersed and blinded one of the planted Chunin. Then Gaara copied all the answers while the man tried to blink the sand away.

Ino used her Shintenshin no Jutsu to take the answers from Sakura.

Shikamaru connected his shadow with those of Ino and Choji. Then he let Ino have control of her body and the Jutsu. It was a pretty delicate thing, but it worked in the end. absolutely useless in a battle, but helpful in situations like this one.

Quite a while later, the time was almost at 15 minutes before finish. Ibiki grinned. Time to make them even more uncomfortable. After a slight nod, the Chunin changed the heating onto full heating. And a deity seemed to like Ibiki. The day itself was warm, so the sun added further to the discomfort of the Genin present. '120 left. Let's see how they handle pressure.' he thought sadistically. 'Give them some minutes.' he added.

Suddenly Kankuro raised his hand. "I need to go to the restroom." he stated.

Ibiki glared at the boy.

A Chunin came and took out some handcuffs. He then chained Kankuros hands together. "I have to accompany you." the Chunin said.

Kankuro nodded and left.

Ibiki was slightly impressed. The Chunin hadn't bothered to count their numbers. So this boy had been able to smuggle a puppet in their rows. But something was off about this puppet. He couldn't place his finger on it right now.

Meanwhile in the Jonin lounge.

Zabuza, Asuma and Kurenai sat there. Zabuza grinned under his mask. "Do you think your teams will prevail?" Zabuza asked.

Asuma took a puff from his cigarette. "I don't know. Ibiki is in charge of the first part of the exam." he said.

Kurenai and Zabuza looked at Asuma questioningly.

Asuma sighed. "Ibiki is the head of the Torture and Interrogation. He is a master of the mind. He can drive someone into a corner mentally with few actions. He will weed out the weak ones. And those who can't handle pressure." he said.

Zabuza was not overly impressed. "I put them under pressure and I know their weak points. Points that motivate them to advance further. I think they will manage." he said.

Kurenai wasn't as optimistic as the masked Ex-Kiri-Nin. "I don't know. I have heard that "The Bloody Desert" takes the exam too. And Kiba told me that his family warned him about the boy. They all know about him and maybe they quit just so they don't have to take the exam together with this monster." she told the other two Jonin.

Asuma considered this. "This might be a reason for them to retreat. And I wouldn't hold it against them. Most Ninja who have heard of him, hope to not have to fight against him. I think you heard it too, Zabuza. The boy is marked "flee on sight" in Iwas Bingo Book." he said to his colleagues.

Zabuza nodded. "Correct. Their earth Ninjutsu are more or less useless against him. He commands the Desert. A water or a lightning user has the best chances against him. Fire, wind and earth are more or less useless. And trying to get him to surrender is useless too. I heard rumors he had a team before the one he has now. They were taken hostage by an enemy who demanded that Gaara surrendered. But Gaara advanced and slaughtered everyone. He didn't care about the deaths of his teammates." Zabuza told the other two.

Asuma and Kurenai became frightened at hearing this. "This would mean, that if his siblings die in the forest, he continues to slaughter the teams there." Kurenai finally said.

Asuma nodded. "Yes. I really ask myself why Suna sent its most dangerous and unstable Ninja here. Maybe they want to put up a display of frightening power. So they get more missions." he said. "Or they wanted to keep Sunas losses of Genin as low as possible. I am quite sure that Gaara has no qualms about killing anyone crossing his path." he replied.

Zabuza nodded. "Let's see where this heads. I bet that the Suna team makes it to the third round without greater problems." he said. "My team will most likely make it too." he stated proudly.

Kurenai and Asuma were a bit riled up by this. Kurenai was the first to speak. "What makes you so sure?" she asked.

Zabuza grinned. "They know when to retreat and they know some water Jutsu. They should make it." he said.

Kurenai glared at the masked Jonin. "I bet that my team makes it, too!" she said a bit riled up.

Asuma nodded. "I think my team will make it too." he added.

Zabuza smirked. "Let's make a bet. Whose team has the most Chunin after the exam is invited by the one having the fewest Chunin. One meal in the "La Maison Française". The Deluxe Menu." he said and grinned.

Kurenai and Asuma pondered this. A Deluxe Menu was expensive. An A-Ranked missions pay could be spent there in one evening. But then it was the best restaurant in Konoha and getting a free meal there was more than tempting. Finally they gave in to temptation. "I accept." they both said at the same time. And with a shake of hands the bet was accepted.

Back in the testing room Ibiki glared at the rest of the Genin. He let loose some more killing intent to make them uncomfortable.

After two or three minutes he decided that he had seen enough. Most of them were right now frightened or nervous, some this far away from a nervous breakdown, others more than confident in themselves.

Ibiki looked around the Room. The Suna girl seemed angry. The Bloody Desert didn't care, he met his look with a cold and void stare. Zabuzas pupils seemed confident enough, same could be said for Asumas and Kurenais pupils. The Oto team looked at him expectantly. Team Gai was nervous. Ibiki decided that it was time for his own amusement. 120 were left. He would cut this number in half.

"Alright." he said. "It is time for the tenth question." he announced and wandered before the chalk-board.

He was interrupted when the door slid open and Kankuro returned. "Was your little play enlightening?" he asked sarcastically and amused. The Chunin proctors would do nothing but D-Ranks for the next two weeks. Being fooled by a Genin. They needed some motivation to sharpen their senses. "Sit down, I'm about to give the final question." he commanded.

Kankuro went to his place and stealthily gave Temari the answers. Temari immediately began copying them.

Ibiki glared at the assembled group. Radiating some more killing intent.

"It is time for the tenth question." he said, sounding sinister and foreboding. "However, I have to give you a choice whether you take it or not. If you decide to not take the question, the door is over there. And take your team with you." he said and glared at the assembled bunch.

"That's bullshit!" Kiba roared. "We take the question." he added. "We have come this far and we will go farther!" he furthermore added.

Ibiki grinned evilly. "Is that so?" he asked. "I have to give you a choice of taking or skipping the question, because your future is on the line here. Because, if you take the question and fail it, you will never again be able to take a Chunin Exam." he added slowly.

Most of the Genin became pale until Kiba spoke up again. "There are people here who have taken the exam several times!" he shouted. "So don't give us crap about not taking it again!" he said defiantly.

Ibiki smirked. "This time you have to play by my rules. And if I say, you will be banned from any other Chunin Exam it is like this. You will be stuck as Genin forever. No matter your level of skill. You will not be able to take better paid jobs. You will not be able to enter ANBU or become a village leader. Are you really willing to bet away your future on this one question?" he said slowly, letting the gravity of the situation sink in.

"Your future is on the line here. You can always quit and try again in six months when you have to abide other rules. When you will not have to bet everything away." Ibiki said after some silence.

A first, quivering hand rose. "I quit." a Genin from Konoha said.

Others soon followed.

And Ibiki smirked. He could see the insecurity in the eyes of most of the others. Well, the team from Sand showed no sign of fear or insecurity. But they were special. Being teamed up with The Bloody Desert must have strengthened their nerves.

Zabuzas team seemed confident too. The Sound team would also not quit. The other teams were more or less insecure. The least insecure was the team of Maito Gai, the most insecure a team from Ame.

Ibiki emitted further killing intent, enjoying how the Genin squirmed uncomfortably. 72 were left.

"I give." a girl from Iwagakure said.

"Me too!" a man from Konoha exclaimed.

"Me too!" another Konoha team eliminated.

Ibiki smirked. "Are your ambitions really that desperate? Do you really want to risk everything? You will not find any mercy here. Fail the question and you fail totally! Or give up and have another chance." he said.

Three more teams gave up after this.

Ibiki was quite satisfied. Everything went well. The Genin were so frightened, he was sure to get their numbers under twenty.

Suddenly Naruto raised his hand. "I…" he began.

Ibiki looked at him amused. This was the same boy who had been backed into a corned at the beginning of the test. He had seemed pretty confident after half an hour. And now he was about to give up? Ibiki was sure that there was something in the bushes.

"…will never give up to the likes of you!" Naruto yelled, slamming his hand on the desk. "Give me your question, if you have the balls to do so!" he added.

Ibiki grinned. The kid had spunk, he had to give it to him. And it was quite some time that someone had talked to him this way. "Are you sure? It's not only your future. Your teams future is on the line here, too." he replied.

Naruto stared back. "I will become Hokage. Even if I have to become the first Genin Hokage ever! I will not surrender here just because it becomes dangerous. Come on, show me what you have got!" he demanded.

Ibiki looked through the room. The tension was lost, the remaining teams seemed to have gotten over it and seemed now confident enough. He decided to do a last test. "Does anyone want to give up?" he asked. He received no answer.

Ibikis expression darkened. "Well then. All of you that remain … … PASS!" the last word he said happily grinning.

Many shouts of "What?" were heard throughout the room.

"What about the tenth question?" Temari shouted

Ibiki looked at the teams. "There is no such thing." he said. "It was just a test of your wills." he added. "The first nine questions were to measure your skills at either information gathering or to measure your intelligence." While saying the last half, he had looked at Sakura appraisingly. "We weeded out those, that made too many mistakes while gathering Intel. They are not fit to become Chunin. Because a Chunin must be able to gather information." he explained. "Therefore we planted a team of Chunin who knew the correct answers so you could spy on them." he added. The three Chunin waved.

Then Ibiki sat down and removed his Bandana. "Information is the thing you need most in your further career. Sometimes false information leads to your death or worse you are captured and then tortured for information gathering. And you have to be able to gather reliable information. Or you can bury your dreams." Ibiki explained further.

"The question if you would take a tenth question, even if it meant total and utter failure was an analogy for a Chunin situation. The question was, if you would put your life and ambitions before the well-being of your village or not. There might be times, when you are sent on a near-suicidal mission with minimal chances of success and almost guaranteed death. A Chunin can't say "No, thank you, don't you have anything else?". A Chunin is sent out and expected to do the mission to the best of his abilities." Ibiki told the Genin. "You have passed the first part of the exam. The instructor for the second exam should be here soon. Don't leave the room until the next proctor arrives, or you will be disqualified. When the next proctor arrives you will be told the details for the second part. And, some of you I will watch closely. You show great potential." he added and vanished in a puff of smoke.

The Chunin guards vanished too.

Kankuro recalled his puppet and smirked. These Chunin had not paid attention to the fact that there was one Chunin too much. Well, their fault.

The other Chunin hopefuls sat there and waited. It couldn't be too long before the next proctor arrived, they reckoned.

20 minutes later the first Genin were getting frustrated. Was someone pulling their legs? The proctor was 20 minutes late.

Suddenly a multiple shout was heard from outside. "NO! Everything but this, Ibiki!" the Genin heard. "It was just a little slip-up on our side!" was added.

"Silence!" the voice of Ibiki was heard. "For not noticing the planted puppet you all will do D-Ranks for the next 4 weeks. Maybe this sharpens your senses." the Genin heard.

Kankuros grin threatened to split his face. Ah, the joy of being the cause of another persons misery. And well, condemning a bunch of Chunin to D-Ranks was very satisfying.

After the interlude it was waiting again.

The Genin watched seconds passing by.

Seconds became minutes.

And minutes became hours.

Naruto became incredibly frustrated. The proctor was already 4 hours late. He was really tempted to murder him or her here and now.

Others were thinking along the same lines. Really, who was over 4 hours late?

Another hour passed and they heard footsteps outside the door.

The door slid open to reveal a face familiar to Naruto, Sakura and Haku. "Hello guys." Kakashi greeted.

Naruto and Sakura proved that old habits die hard. "YOU ARE LATE!" they both roared.

"Sorry about this. You see, when I was on my way here, an old lady asked me to escort her home. Unfortunately does she live on the other side of the town and she was really slow, so it took much time to get to her home. And on the way back here I got lost on the road of life." Kakashi said grinning.

"LIAR! YOU WERE READING YOUR PORN!" was the predictable response.

Kakashi faked looking guilty. "Well, I took over the job of informing you for the second proctor. She has drunken herself into a coma. Anyway. You have to be here again tomorrow at High Noon! Better be there early, the proctor hates people who are late. You can leave now. Good bye." he said and vanished in a puff of smoke.

The Chunin hopefuls left the room, intending to get a round of sleep before they would have the second part of the test tomorrow. They were totally at a loss about what would await them.

-

End chapter 3

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Author's notes: Here you have it. Chapter 3. The next chapter will most likely be relatively short, as I am not sure right now if I should incorporate the prelims or not. If I include the prelims, it will take quite a while until the chapter comes out. I happen to be a case of "easily distracted and writing many stories at once". Thus I update slowly. And I try to write long chapters. (And right now I'm playing Fallout 3 excessively. Long live President Eden!)

I hope you like Kakashis little appearance at the end of the chapter. At first I wanted to let him proctor the prelims, but I decided against this. It was much more fun to let the Genin wait and the receive effectively no information at all.

Well, until the next time.

And I repeat something from the beginning notes. Please vote for the units poll on my profile. The story has several hundred readers and only 9 persons voted. And I need more votes. Thank you in advance.

Last, but not least. I thank Eisregen, Cyborg Attack, Megadeth, Helloween, Rammstein, ASP, Emily Autumn, Iced Earth, Motörhead and Iron Maiden for inspiring music.


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